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'1M 


PRESIDENT  QUINCY'S 
CENTENNIAL  ADDRESS. 


AN 

ADDRESS 

TO 

THE    CITIZENS    OF   BOSTON, 

ON  THE  XVll™  OF  SEPTEMBER,  M  DCCC  XXX, 

THE    CLOSE 

OF 

THE    SECOND    CENTURY 

FROM  THB 

FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OP  THE  CITY. 


By    JOSIAH    aUINCY,    ll.  d. 

PBESIDENT    OF    HARVARD    UNIVERSITY. 


BOSTON: 

J.  H.  EASTBURN,  PRINTER  TO  THE  CITY. 
1830. 


gi3. 


CITY  OF  BOSTON. 

Jn  Common  Council,  Sept.  17,  1830. 
Ordered,  that  the  Committee  of  Arrangements  for  the  Celebration 
of  tliis  day  be,  and  they  are  hereby,  directed  to  present  the  thanks  of 
the  City  Council  to  the  Honorable  Josiaii  Quincy,  for  the  learned, 
eloquent,  and  appropriate  Address,  this  day  delivered  by  him,  and 
respectfully  request  a  copy  of  said  Address  for  the  press. 
Sent  up  for  concurrence, 

B,  T.  PicKMAX,  President. 

In  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  Sept.  17,  1830. 

Read  and  concurred. 

H.  G.  Otis,  Mayor. 

A  true  copy,  Attest, 

S.  F.  M'Cleary,  City  Cltrk. 


Boston,  Sept.  17,  1830. 

Hon.  JoSIAH  QCINCT, 

^  The  undersigned,  the  Committee  of  Arrangements  for  the 

I  Centennial  Celebration  of  the  Settlement  of  Boston,  have  the  honor  to 
V  enclose  you  an  attested  copy  of  a  vote  of  the  City  Council,  and 
^  respectfully  ask  your  compliance  with  the  request  contained  therein, 
t!  H.  G.  Otis. 

Benjamin  Russell. 

WiNSLOw  Lewis. 

J.    EVELETH. 

Tn.  Minns. 

B,    T.    PiCKMAW. 

J.  W.  James. 
John  P.  Bigelow. 
Washington  P.  Graoo. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

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IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/addresstocitizenOOquiniala 


ADDRESS, 


Of  all  the  aflfectlons  of  man,  those  which  connect 
him  with  ancestry  are  among  the  most  natural  and 
generous.  They  enlarge  the  sphere  of  his  interests  ; 
multiply  his  motives  to  virtue  ;  and  give  intensity  to 
his  sense  of  duty  to  generations  to  come,  by  the  per- 
ception of  obligation  to  those  which  are  past.  In 
whatever  mode  of  existence  man  finds  himself,  be  it 
savage  or  civilized,  he  perceives  that  he  is  indebted 
for  the  far  greater  part  of  his  possessions  and  enjoy- 
ments, to  events  over  which  he  had  no  control ;  to 
individuals,  whose  names,  perhaps,  never  reached  his 
ear  ;  to  sacrifices,  in  which  he  never  shared ;  and  to 
sufferings,  awakening  in  his  bosom  few  and  very 
transient  sympathies. 

Cities  and  empires,  not  less  than  individuals,  are 
chiefly  indebted  for  their  fortunes  to  circumstances 
and  influences  independent  of  the  labors  and  wis- 
dom of  the  passing  generation.  Is  our  lot  cast  in  a 
happy  soil,  beneath  a  favored  sky,  and  under  the 
shelter  of  free  institutions  1  How  few  of  all  these 
blessings  do  we  owe  to  our  own  power,  or  our  own 


prudence  !     How  few,  on  which  we  cannot  discern 
the  impress  of  long  past  generations  ! 

It  is  natural,  that  reflections  of  this  kind  should 
awaken  curiosity  concerning  the  men  of  past  ages. 
It  is  suitable,  and  characteristic  of  noble  natures, 
to  love  to  trace  in  venerated  institutions  the  evi- 
dences of  ancestral  worth  and  wisdom  ;  and  to  cher- 
ish that  mingled  sentiment  of  awe  and  admiration, 
which  takes  possession  of  the  soul,  in  the  presence 
of  ancient,  deep-laid,  and  massy  monuments  of  intel- 
lectual and  moral  power. 

Under  impulses  thus  natural  and  generous,  at  the 
invitation  of  your  municipal  authorities,  you  have  as- 
sembled, Citizens  of  Boston,  on  this  day,  in  commem- 
oration of  the  era  of  the  foundation  of  your  city,  bear- 
ing in  fond  recollection  the  virtues  of  your  fathers,  to 
pass  in  review  the  circumstances  which  formed  their 
character,  and  the  institutions  which  bear  its  stamp ; 
to  take  a  rapid  survey  of  that  broad  horizon,  which  is 
resplendent  with  their  glories ;  to  compress,  within 
the  narrow  circle  of  an  hour,  the  results  of  memo- 
ry, perception,  and  hope  ;  combining  honor  to  the 
past,  gratitude  for  the  present,  and  fidelity  to  the 
future. 

Standing,  after  the  lapse  of  two  centuries,  on  the 
very  spot  selected  for  us  by  our  fathers,  and  sur- 
rounded by  social,  moral,  and  religious  blessings 
greater  than  paternal  love,  in  its  fondest  visions,  ev- 
er dared  to  fancy,  we  naturally  turn  our  eyes  back- 
ward, on  the  descending  current  of  years  ;  seeking 
the  causes  of  that  prosperity,  which  has  given  this 
city  so  distinguished  a  name  and  rank  among  simi- 
lar associations  of  men. 


Happily  its  foundations  were  not  laid  in  dark  ages, 
nor  is  its  origin  to  be  sought  among  loose  and  ob- 
scure traditions.  The  age  of  our  early  ancestors 
was,  in  many  respects,  eminent  for  learning  and  civil- 
ization. Our  ancestors  themselves  were  deeply 
versed  in  the  knowledge  and  attainments  of  their  pe- 
riod. Not  only  their  motives  and  acts  appear  in  the 
general  histories  of  their  time,  but  they  are  un- 
folded in  their  own  writings,  with  a  simplicity  and 
boldness,  at  once  commanding  admiration  and  not 
permitting  mistake.  If  this  condition  of  things  re- 
strict the  imagination  in  its  natural  tendency  to  ex- 
aggerate, it  assists  the  judgment  rightly  to  analyze, 
and  justly  to  appreciate.  If  it  deny  the  power,  en- 
joyed by  ancient  cities  and  states,  to  elevate  our  an- 
cestors above  the  condition  of  humanity,  it  confers  a 
much  more  precious  privilege,  that  of  estimating  by 
unequivocal  standards  the  intellectual  and  moral 
greatness  of  the  early,  intervening,  and  passing  pe- 
riods ;  and  thus  of  judging  concerning  comparative 
attainment  and  progress  in  those  qualities  which 
constitute  the  dignity  of  our  species.  Instead  of 
looking  back,  as  antiquity  was  accustomed  to  do,  on 
fabling  legends  of  giants  and  heroes, — of  men  ex- 
ceeding in  size,  in  strength,  and  in  labor,  all  expe- 
rience and  history,  and  consequently,  being  obliged 
to  contemplate  the  races  of  men,  dwindling  with 
time,  and  growing  less  amid  increasing  stimulants  and 
advantages ;  we  are  thus  enabled  to  view  things  in 
lights  more  conformed  to  the  natural  suggestions  of 
reason,  and  the  actual  results  of  observation  ;  —  to 
witness  improvement  in  its  slow  but  sure  progress  ; 
in  a  general  advance,  constant  and  unquestionable ;  — 


8 

to  pay  due  honors  to  the  greatness  and  virtues  of  our 
early  ancestors,  and  be,  at  the  same  time,  just  to  the 
not  inferior  greatness  and  virtues  of  succeeding  gene- 
rations of  men,  their  descendants  and  our  progeni- 
tors. Thus  we  substantiate  the  cheering  conviction, 
that  the  virtues  of  ancient  times  have  not  been  lost, 
or  debased,  in  the  course  of  their  descent,  but,  in 
many  respects,  have  been  refined  and  elevated  ;  and 
so  standing  faithful  to  the  generations  which  are  past, 
and  fearless  in  the  presence  of  the  generations  to 
come,  we  accumulate  on  our  own  times  the  responsi- 
bility, that  an  inheritance,  which  has  descended  to 
us  enlarged  and  improved,  shall  not  be  transmitted 
by  us  diminished  or  deteriorated. 

As  our  thoughts  course  along  the  events  of  past 
times,  from  the  hour  of  the  first  settlement  of  Boston 
to  that  in  which  we  are  now  assembled,  they  trace 
the  strong  features  of  its  character,  indelibly  impressed 
upon  its  acts  and  in  its  history ;  —  clear  conceptions 
of  duty  ;  bold  vindications  of  right ;  readiness  to  in- 
cur dangers  and  meet  sacrifices,  in  the  maintenance 
of  liberty,  civil  and  religious.  Early  selected  as  the 
place  of  the  chief  settlement  of  New  England,  it  has, 
through  every  subsequent  period,  maintained  its  rel- 
ative ascendancy.  In  the  arts  of  peace  and  in  the 
energies  of  war,  in  the  virtues  of  prosperity  and  ad- 
versity, in  wisdom  to  plan  and  vigor  to  execute,  in 
extensiveness  of  enterprise,  success  in  accumulating 
wealth,  and  hberahty  in  its  distribution,  its  inhabi- 
tants, if  not  unrivalled,  have  not  been  surpassed,  by 
any  similar  society  of  men.  Through  good  report 
and  evil  report,  its  influence  has,  at  all  times,  been 
so  distinctly  seen  and  acknowledged  in  events,  and 


9 

been  so  decisive  on  the  destinies  of  the  region  of 
which  it  was  the  head,  tiiat  the  inhabitants  of  the  ad- 
joining colonies  of  a  foreign  nation  early  gave  the 
name  of  this  place  to  the  whole  country ;  and  at  this 
day,  among  their  descendants,  the  people  of  the 
whole  United  States  *  are  distinguished  by  the  name 
of  "  Bostonians." 

Amidst  perils  and  obstructions,  on  the  bleak  side 
of  the  mountain  on  v/hich  it  was  first  cast,  the  seed- 
ling oak,  self-rooted,  shot  upward  with  a  determined 
vigor.  Sow  slighted  and  now  assailed;  amidst  alter- 
nating sunshine  and  storm ;  with  the  axe  of  a  native 
foe  at  its  root,  and  the  lightning  of  a  foreign  power, 
at  times,  scathing  its  top,  or  withering  its  branches, 
it  grew,  it  flourished,  it  stands,  —  may  it  for  ever 
stand!  —  the  honor  of  the  field. 

On  this  occasion,  it  is  proper  to  speak  of  the  foun- 
ders of  our  city,  and  of  their  glory.  Now  in  its  true 
acceptation,  the  term  glory  expresses  the  splendor, 
which  emanates  from  virtue  in  the  act  of  producing 
general  and  permanent  good.  Right  conceptions 
then  of  the  glory  of  our  ancestors  are  alone  to  be  at- 
tained by  analyzing  their  virtues.  These  virtues, 
indeed,  are  not  seen  charactered  in  breathing  bronze, 
or  in  living  marble.  Our  ancestors  have  left  no  Co- 
rinthian temples  on  our  hills,  no  Gothic  cathedrals 
on  our  plains,  no  proud  pyramid,  no  storied  obe- 
lisk, in  our  cities.  But  mind  is  there.  Sagacious 
enterprise  is  there.  An  active,  vigorous,  intelligent, 
moral  population  throng  our  cities,  and  predomi- 
nate in  our  fields ;  men,  patient  of  labor,  submissive 
to  law,  respectful    to    authority,  regardful  of  right, 

*  See  note  A. 


10 

faithful  to  liberty.  These  are  the  monuments  of  our 
ancestors.  They  stand  immutable  and  immortal,  in 
the  social,  moral,  and  intellectual  condition  of  their  de- 
scendants. They  exist  in  the  spirit,  which  their  pre- 
cepts instilled,  and  their  example  implanted.  Let 
no  man  think  that  to  analyze,  and  place  in  a  just  light, 
the  virtues  of  the  first  settlers  of  New  England,  is  a 
departure  from  the  purpose  of  this  celebration ;  or 
deem  so  meanly  of  our  duties,  as  to  conceive  that 
merely  local  relations,  the  circumstances  which  have 
given  celebrity  and  character  to  this  single  city,  are 
the  only,  or  the  most  appropriate  topics  for  the  oc- 
casion. It  was  to  this  spot,  during  twelve  successive 
years,  that  the  great  body  of  those  first  settlers  emi- 
grated. In  this  place,  they  either  fixed  permanently 
their  abode,  or  took  their  departure  from  it  for  the 
coast,  or  the  interior.  Whatever  honor  devolves 
on  this  metropolis  from  the  events  connected  with 
its  first  settlement,  is  not  solitary  or  exclusive ; 
it  is  shared  with  Massachusetts  ;  with  New  England; 
in  some  sense,  w^ith  the  whole  United  States.  For 
what  part  of  this  wide  empire,  be  it  sea  or  shore, 
lake  or  river,  mountain  or  valley,  have  the  descend- 
ants of  the  first  settlers  of  New  England  not  travers- 
ed? what  depth  of  forest,  not  penetrated  7  what 
danger  of  nature  or  man,  not  defied?  Where  is  the 
cultivated  field,  in  redeeming  which  from  the  wilder- 
ness, their  vigor  has  not  been  displayed  ?  Where, 
amid  unsubdued  nature,  by  the  side  of  the  first  log- 
hut  of  the  settler,  does  the  school-house  stand  and 
the  church-spire  rise,  unless  the  sons  of  New  Eng- 
land are  there  ?  Where  does  improvement  advance, 
under  the  active  energy  of  willing  hearts  and  ready 


11 

hands,  prostrating  the  moss-covered  monarchs  of  the 
wood,  and  from  their  ashes,  amid  their  charred  roots, 
bidding  the  greensward  and  the  waving  harvest  to 
upspring,  and  the  spirit  of  the  fathers  of  New  Eng- 
land is  not  seen,  hovering,  and  shedding  around  the 
benign  influences  of  sound  social,  moral,  and  religious 
institutions,  stronger  and  more  enduring  than  knot- 
ted oak  or  tempered  steel?  The  swelling  tide  of 
their  descendants  has  spread  upon  our  coasts ;  as- 
cended our  rivers ;  taken  possession  of  our  plains. 
Already  it  encircles  our  lakes.  At  this  hour  the 
rushing  noise  of  the  advancing  wave  startles  the  wild 
beast  in  his  lair  among  the  prairies  of  the  West. 
Soon  it  shall  be  seen  climbing  the  Rocky  mountains, 
and,  as  it  dashes  over  their  cliffs,  shall  be  hailed  by  the 
dwellers  on  the  Pacific,  as  the  harbinger  of  the  com- 
ing blessings  of  safety,  liberty,  and  truth. 

The  glory,  which  belongs  to  the  virtues  of  our 
ancestors,  is  seen  radiating  from  the  nature  of  their 
design  ;  — from  the  spirit  in  which  it  was  executed ;  — 
and  from  the  character  of  their  institutions. 

That  emigration  of  Englishmen,  which,  two  centu- 
ries ago,  resulted  in  the  settlement,  on  this  day,  of 
this  metropolis,  was  distinguished  by  the  comparative 
greatness  of  the  means  employed,  and  the  number, 
rank,  fortune,  and  intellectual  endowments  of  those 
engaged  in  it,  as  leaders,  or  associates.  Twelve 
ships,  transporting  somewhat  less  than  nine  hundred 
souls,  constituted  the  physical  strength  of  the  first 
enterprise.  In  the  course  of  the  twelve  succeeding 
years,  twenty-two  thousand  souls  emigrated  in  one 
hundred  and  ninety-two  ships,  at  a  cost,  including 
the  private  expenses  of  the  adventurers,  which  can- 


12 

not  be  estimated,  in  our  currency,  at  less  than  one 
million  of  dollars.  At  that  time  the  tide  of  emigra- 
tion was  stayed.  Intelligent  writers  of  the  last  cen- 
tury assert  that  more  persons  had  subsequently  gone 
from  New  England  to  Europe,  than  had  come  to  it 
during  the  same  period  from  that  quarter  of  the 
globe.  A  cotemporary  historian*  represents  the 
leaders  of  the  first  emigration,  as  "  gentlemen  of  good 
estate  and  reputation,  descended  from,  or  connected 
by  marriage  with,  noble  families  ;  having  large  means, 
and  great  yearly  revenue,  sufficient  in  all  reason  to 
content ;  their  tables  abundant  in  food,  their  coffers 
in  coin ;  possessing  beautiful  houses,  filled  with 
rich  furniture  ;  gainful  in  their  business,  and  growing 
rich  daily ;  well  provided  for  themselves,  and  having 
a  sure  competence  for  their  children  ;  wanting  noth- 
ing of  a  worldly  nature  to  complete  the  prospects  of 
ease  and  enjoyment,  or  which  could  contribute  to 
the  pleasures,  the  prospects,  or  the  splendors  of  hfe." 
The  question  forces  itself  on  the  mind.  Why  did 
such  men  emigrate?  Why  did  men  of  their  condition 
exchange  a  pleasant  and  prosperous  home  for  a  re- 
pulsive and  cheerless  wilderness ;  a  civilized  for  a 
barbarous  vicinity?  why,  quitting  peaceful  and 
happy  dwellings,  dare  the  dangers  of  tempestuous 
and  unexplored  seas,  the  rigors  of  untried  and  severe 
climates,  the  difficulties  of  a  hard  soil  and  the  inhu- 
man warfare  of  a  savage  foe?  An  answer  must  be 
sought  in  the  character  of  the  times ;  and  in  the 
spirit,  which  the  condition  of  their  native  country 
and  age  had  a  direct  tendency  to  excite  and  cherish. 

*  Johnson's   "Wonder-Working   Providence   of  Sion's  Saviour   in 
New  England,"  ch.  12. 


13 

The  general  civil  and  religious  aspect  of  the  Eng- 
lish nation,  in  the  age  of  our  ancestors,  and  in  that 
ininieilialely  preceding  tijuir  emigration,  was  singu- 
larly hateful  and  repulsive.  A  foreign  hierarchy, 
contending  with  a  domestic  despotism  ibr  infullibility 
and  supremacy,  in  matters  of  faith.  Confiscation, 
imprisonment,  the  axe  and  the  stake,  approved  and 
customary  means  of  making  proselytes  arid  promoting 
uniformity.  The  fires  of  Smithfield,  now  lighted  by 
the  corrupt  and  selfish  zeal  of  Roman  pontifls ;  and 
now  rekindled,  by  the  no  less  corrupt  and  selfish 
zeal  of  English  sovereigns.  All  men  clamorous  for 
the  rights  of  conscience,  when  in  subjection;  all 
actively  persecuting,  when  in  authority.  Every 
where  religion  considered  as  a  state  entity,  and  hav- 
ing apparently  no  real  existence,  except  in  associa- 
tions in  support  of  established  power,  or  in  opposi- 
tion to  it. 

The  moral  aspect  of  the  age  was  not  less  odious 
than  its  civil.  Every  benign  and  characteristic  virtue 
of  Christianity  was  publicly  conjoined,  in  close  alli- 
ance, with  its  most  offensive  opposite.  Humility 
wearing  the  tiara,  and  brandishing  the  keys,  in  the  ex- 
cess of  the  pride  of  temporal  and  spiritual  power. 
The  Roman  pontiff,  under  the  title  of  "  the  servant 
of  servants,"  with  his  foot  on  the  neck  of  every  mon- 
arch in  Christendom  ;  and  under  the  seal  of  the  fish- 
erman of  Galilee,  dethroning  kings  and  giving  away 
kingdoms.  Purity,  content,  and  self-denial  preach- 
ed by  men,  who  held  the  wealth  of  Europe  tributary 
to  their  luxury,  sensuality,  and  spiritual  pride.  Broth- 
erly love  in  the  mouth,  while  the  hand  applied  the 
instrument  of  torture.      Charity,  mutual  forbearance. 


14 

and  forgiveness  chanted  in  unison  with  clanking 
chains  and  crackling  faggots. 

Nor  was  the  intellectual  aspect  of  the  age  less  re- 
pulsive than  its  civil  and  moral.  The  native  charm 
of  the  religious  feeling  lost,  or  disfigured  amidst 
forms,  and  ceremonies,  and  disciplines.  By  one 
class,  piety  was  identified  with  copes,  and  crosiers, 
and  tippets,  and  genuflexions.  By  another  class,  all 
these  were  abhorred  as  the  tricks  and  conjuring  gar- 
ments of  popery,  or  at  best,  in  the  language  of  Cal- 
vin, as  "  tolerable  fooleries" ;  while  they,  on  their 
part,  identified  piety  with  looks,  and  language,  and 
gestures,  extracted  or  typified  from  scripture,  and 
fashioned  according  to  the  newest  "  pattern  of 
the  mount."  By  none  were  the  rights  of  private 
judgment  acknowledged.  By  all,  creeds,  and  dog- 
mas, and  confessions,  and  catechisms,  collected 
from  scripture  with  metaphysical  skill,  arranged  with 
reference  to  temporal  power  and  influence,  and 
erected  into  standards  of  faith,  were  made  the  flags 
and  rallying  points  of  the  spiritual  swordsmen  of  the 
church  militant. 

The  first  emotion,  which  this  view  of  that  period 
excites,  at  the  present  day,  is  contempt  or  disgust. 
But  the  men  of  that  age  are  no  more  responsible  for 
the  mistakes,  into  which  they  fell,  under  the  circum- 
stances in  which  the  intellectual  eye  was  then  placed, 
than  we,  at  this  day,  for  those  optical  illusions  to 
which  the  natural  eye  is  subject,  before  time  and  ex- 
perience have  corrected  the  judgment  and  instructed 
it  in  the  true  laws  of  nature  and  vision.  It  was  their 
fate  to  live  in  the  crepuscular  state  of  the  intellectual 
day,  and  by  the  law  of  their  nature  they  were  com- 


15 

pelled  to  see  things  darkly,  through  false  and  shifting 
mediums,  and  in  lights  at  once  dubious  and  deceptive. 
For  centuries,  a  night  of  Egyptian  darkness  had  over- 
spread Europe,  in  the  "palpable  obscure"  of  which, 
priests  and  monarchs  and  nobles  had  not  only  found 
means  to  enthral  the  minds  of  the  multitude,  but  ab- 
solutely to  lose  and  bewilder  their  own.  When  the 
light  of  learning  began  to  dawn,  the  first  rays  of  the 
rising  splendor  dazzled  and  confused,  rather  than  di- 
rected the  mind.  As  the  coming  light  penetrated 
the  thick  darkness,  the  ancient  cumulative  cloud 
severed  into  new  forms.  Its  broken  masses  became 
tinged  with  an  uncertain  and  shifting  radiance.  Shad- 
ows assumed  the  aspect  of  substances ;  the  evanes- 
cent suggestions  of  fancy,  the  look  of  fixed  realities. 
The  wise  were  at  a  loss  what  to  believe,  or  what  to 
discredit ;  how  to  quit  and  where  to  hold.  On  all 
sides  sprang  up  sects  and  parties,  infinite  in  number, 
incomprehensible  in  doctrine  ;  often  imperceptible  in 
difference ;  yet  each  claiming  for  itself  infallibility, 
and,  in  the  sphere  it  affected  to  influence,  supremacy  ; 
each  violent  and  hostile  to  the  others,  haughty  and 
haling  its  non-adhering  brother,  in  a  spirit  wholly 
repugnant  to  the  humility  and  love  inculcated  by 
that  religion,  by  which  each  pretended  to  be  ac-' 
tuated ;  and  ready  to  resort,  when  it  had  power,  to 
corporal  penalties,  even  to  death  itself,  as  allowed 
modes  of  self-defence  and  proselytism. 

It  was  the  fate  of  the  ancestors  of  New  England 
to  have  their  lot  cast  in  a  state  of  society  thus  unpre- 
cedented. They  were  of  that  class  of  the  English 
nation,  in  whom  the  systematic  persecutions  of  a 
concentrated  civil  and  ecclesiastical  despotism  had 


16 

enkindled  an  intense  interest  concerning  man's  social 
and  religious  rights.     Their  sufferings  had  created  in 
their  minds  a  vivid  and  inextinguishable  love  of  civil 
and  religious  liberty;  a  fixed  resolve,  at  every  peril, 
to  assert  and  maintain   their  natural  rights.     Among 
the  boldest  and  most  intelligent  of  this  class  of  men, 
chiefly  known  by  the   name   of  Puritans,  were  the 
founders  of  this  metropolis.     To  a  superficial  view, 
their  zeal  seems  directed   to   forms   and   ceremonies 
and  disciplines,  which  have  become,  at  this  day,  ob- 
solete or  modified,  and  so   seems  mistaken  or  mis- 
placed.    But  the  wisdom  of  zeal   for  any   object  is 
not  to  be  measured  by  the  particular  nature  of  that  ob- 
ject, but  by  the  nature  of  the  principle,  which  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  times,  or  of  society,  have  identified 
with  such  object.     Liberty,  whether  civil  or  religious, 
is  among  the  noblest  objects  of  human  regard.     Yet, 
to  a   being    constituted    like    man,  abstract    liberty 
has  no  existence,  and  over  him  no  practical  influence. 
To  be  for  him    an  efficient  principle   of  action,   it 
must  be  embodied  in  some  sensible  object.      Thus 
the  form   of  a  cap,  the    color  of  a  surplice,   ship- 
money,  a    tax    on    tea,   or   on   stamped    paper,  ob- 
jects   in    themselves   indifferent,  have    been  so    in- 
separably identified  with   the  principle  temporarily 
connected    with    them,    that  martyrs  have    died    at 
the  stake,  and  patriots  have  fallen  in  the  field,  and 
this    wisely  and  nobly,  for  the  sake   of  the  princi- 
ple, made  by  the  circumstances  of  the  time  to  inhere 
in  them. 

Now  in  the  age  of  our  fathers,  the  principle  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty  became  identified  with 
forms,  disciplines,  and  modes  of  worship.     The  zeal 


17 

of  our  fathers  was  graduated  by  the  importance  of 
the  inhering  principle.  This  gave  elevation  to  that 
zeal.  This  creates  interest  in  their  sufferings.  This 
entitles  them  to  rank  among  patriots  and  martyrs, 
who  have  voluntarily  sacrificed  themselves  to  the 
cause  of  conscience  and  their  country.  Indignant  at 
being  denied  the  enjoyment  of  the  rights  of  con- 
science, which  were  in  that  age  identified  with  those 
sensible  objects,  and  resolute  to  vindicate  them,  they 
quitted  country  and  home,  crossed  the  Atlantic,  and, 
without  other  auspices  than  their  own  strength  and 
their  confidence  in  Heaven,  they  proceeded  to  lay 
the  foundation  of  a  commonwealth,  under  the  princi- 
ples and  by  the  stamina  of  which,  their  posterity 
have  established  an  actual  and  uncontroverted  inde- 
pendence, not  less  happy  than  glorious.  To  their 
enthusiastic  vision,  all  the  comforts  of  life  and  all  the 
pleasures  of  society,  were  light  and  worthless  in 
comparison  with  the  liberty  they  sought.  The 
tempestuous  sea  was  less  dreadful  than  the  troubled 
waves  of  civil  discord ;  the  quick-sands,  the  un- 
known shoals,  and  unexplored  shores  of  a  savage 
coast,  less  fearful  than  the  metaphysical  abysses  and 
perpetually  shifting  whirlpools  of  despotic  ambition 
and  ecclesiastical  policy  and  intrigue ;  the  bow  and 
the  tomahawk  of  the  transatlantic  barbarian,  less  ter- 
rible than  the  flame  and  faggot  of  the  civilized  Euro- 
pean. In  the  calm  of  our  present  peace  and  pros- 
perity, it  is  difficult  for  us  to  realize  or  appreciate 
their  sorrows  and  sacrifices.  They  sought  a  new 
world,  lying  far  off  in  space,  destitute  of  all  the  at- 
tractions which  make  home  and  native  land  dear  and 
venerable.  Instead  of  cultivated  fields  and  a  civiliz- 
3 


18 

ed  neighbourhood,  the  prospect  before  them  present- 
ed nothing  but  dreary  wastes,  cheerless  cHmates,  and 
repulsive  wildernesses,  possessed  by  wild  beasts  and 
savages ;  the  intervening  ocean  unexplored  and  in- 
tersected by  the  fleets  of  a  hostile  nation ;  its  usual 
dangers  multiplied  to  the  fancy,  and  in  fact,  by  ig- 
norance of  real  hazards,  and  natural  fears  of  such,  as 
the  event  proved  to  be  imaginary. 

"Pass  on,"  exclaims  one  of  these  adventurers,* 
"and  attend,  while  these  soldiers  of  faith  ship  for 
this  western  world ;  while  they  and  their  wives  and 
their  httle  ones  take  an  eternal  leave  of  their  country 
and  kindred.  With  what  heart-breaking  aff'ection  did 
they  press  loved  friends  to  their  bosoms,  whom  they 
were  never  to  see  again !  their  voices  broken  by 
grief,  till  tears  streaming  eased  their  hearts  to  recov- 
ered speech  again  ;  natural  aff*ections  clamorous  as 
they  take  a  perpetual  banishment  from  their  native 
soil ;  their  enterprise  scorned ;  their  motives  de- 
rided ;  and  they  counted  but  madmen  and  fools. 
But  time  shall  discover  the  wisdom  with  which  they 
were  endued,  and  the  sequel  shall  show  how  their 
policy  overtopped  all  the  human  policy  of  this  world." 

Winthrop,  their  leader  and  historian,  in  his  simple 
narrative  of  the  voyage,  exhibits  them,  when  in 
severe  sufferings,  resigned  ;  in  instant  expectation  of 
battle,  fearless ;  amid  storm,  sickness,  and  death, 
calm,  confident,  and  undismayed.  "  Our  trust," 
says  he,  "  was  in  the  Lord  of  hosts."  For  years, 
Winthrop,  the  leader  of  the  first  great  enterprise,  was 
the  chief  magistrate  of  the  infant  metropolis.     His 

*  Johnson  in  his  "  Wonder-Working  Providences  of  Sion's  Saviour 
in  New  England,"  ch.  12. 


19 

prudence  guided  its  councils.  His  valor  directed  its 
strength.  His  life  and  fortune  were  spent  in  fixing 
its  character,  or  in  improving  its  destinies.  A  bolder 
spirit  never  dwelt,  a  truer  heart  never  beat,  in  any 
bosom.  Had  Boston,  like  Rome,  a  consecrated 
calendar,  there  is  no  name  better  entitled  than  that 
of  Winthrop  to  be  registered,  as  its  "  patron  saint." 

From  Salem  and  Charlestown,  the  places  of  their 
first  landing,  they  ranged  the  bay  of  Massachusetts  to 
fix  the  head  of  the  settlement.  After  much  delibera- 
tion, and  not  without  opposition,  they  selected  this 
spot ;  known  to  the  natives  by  the  name  of  Shawmutt 
and  to  the  adjoining  settlers  "by  that  of  Trimountain ; 
the  former  indicating  the  abundance  and  sweetness 
of  its  waters ;  the  latter,  the  peculiar  character  of 
its  hills. 

Accustomed  as  we  are  to  the  beauties  of  the  place 
and  its  vicinity,  and  in  the  daily  perception  of  the 
charms  of  its  almost  unrivalled  scenery, — in  the  centre 
of  a  natural  amphitheatre,  whose  sloping  descents  the 
riches  of  a  laborious  and  intellectual  cultivation 
adorn,  —  where  hill  and  vale,  river  and  ocean,  island 
and  continent,  simple  nature  and  unobtrusive  art,  with 
contrasted  and  interchanging  harmonies,  form  a 
rich  and  gorgeous  landscape,  we  are  little  able  to 
realize  the  almost  repulsive  aspect  of  its  original 
state.  We  wonder  at  the  blindness  of  those,  who, 
at  one  time,  constituted  the  majority,  and  had  well 
nigh  fixed  elsewhere  the  chief  seat  of  the  settlement. 
Nor  are  we  easily  just  to  Winthrop,  Johnson,  and 
their  associates,  whose  skill  and  judgment  selected 
this  spot,  and  whose  firmness  settled  the  wavering 
minds  of  the  multitude  upon  it,  as  the  place  for  their 


20 

metropolis  ;  a  decision,  which  the  experience  of  two 
centuries  has  irrevocably  justified,  and  which  there 
is  no  reason  to  apprehend  that  the  events  or  opinions 
of  any  century  to  come  will  reverse. 

To  the  eyes  of  the  first  emigrants,  however,  where 
now  exists  a  dense  and  aggregated  mass  of  living 
beings  and  material  things,  amid  all  the  accommoda- 
tions of  life,  the  splendors  of  wealth,  the  delights 
of  taste,  and  whatever  can  gratify  the  cultivated 
intellect,  there  were  then  only  a  few  hills,  which, 
when  the  ocean  receded,  were  intersected  by  wide 
marshes,  and  when  its  tide  returned,  appeared  a 
group  of  lofty  islands,  abruptly  rising  from  the  sur- 
rounding waters.  Thick  forests  concealed  the 
neighbouring  hills,  and  the  deep  silence  of  nature 
was  broken  only  by  the  voice  of  the  wild  beast  or 
bird,  and  the  warwhoop  of  the  savage. 

The  advantages  of  the  place  were,  however,  clearly 
marked  by  the  hand  of  nature  ;  combining  at  once, 
present  convenience,  future  security,  and  an  ample 
basis  for  permanent  growth  and  prosperity.  Towards 
the  continent  it  possessed  but  a  single  avenue,  and 
that  easily  fortified.  Its  hills  then  commanded,  not 
only  its  own  waters,  but  the  hills  of  the  vicinity.  At 
the  bottom  of  a  deep  bay,  its  harbour  was  capable 
of  containing  the  proudest  navy  of  Europe  ;  yet, 
locked  by  islands  and  guarded  by  winding  channels, 
it  presented  great  difficulty  of  access  to  strangers, 
and,  to  the  inhabitants,  great  facility  of  protection 
against  maritime  invasion;  while  to  those  acquainted 
with  its  waters,  it  was  both  easy  and  accessible.  To 
these  advantages  were  added  goodness  and  plente- 
ousness  of  water,  and  the  security  afforded  by  that 


21 

once  commanding  height,  now,  alas  I  obliterated  and 
almost  forgotten,  since  art  and  industry  have  levelled 
the  predominating  mountain  of  the  place ;  from 
whose  lofty  and  imposing  top  the  beacon-fire  was 
accustomed  to  rally  the  neighbouring  population,  on 
any  threatened  danger  to  the  metropolis.  A  single 
cottage,  from  which  ascended  the  smoke  of  the  hospit- 
able hearth  of  Blackstone,  who  had  occupied  the 
peninsula  several  years,  was  the  sole  civilized  mansion 
in  the  solitude ;  the  kind  master  of  which,  at  first, 
welcomed  the  coming  emigrants  ;  but  soon,  disliking 
the  sternness  of  their  manners  and  the  severity  of 
their  discipline,  abandoned  the  settlement.  His  rights 
as  first  occupant  were  recognised  by  our  ancestors  ; 
and  in  November,  1634,  Edmund  Quincy,  Samuel 
Wildbore,  and  others  were  authorized  to  assess  a  rate 
of  thirty  pounds  for  Mr.  Blackstone,*  on  the  payment 
of  which  all  local  rights  in  the  peninsula  became 
vested  in  its  inhabitants. 

The  same  bold  spirit,  which  thus  led  our  ancestors 
across  the  Atlantic  and  made  them  prefer  a  wilder- 
ness where  liberty  might  be  enjoyed,  to  civilized 
Europe  where  it  was  denied,  will  be  found  charac- 
terizing all  their  institutions.  Of  these,  the  limits  of 
the  time  permit  me  to  speak  only  in  general  terms. 
The  scope  of  their  policy  has  been  usually  re- 
garded as  though  it  were  restricted  to  the  acquisition 
of  religious  hberty  in  the  relation  of  colonial  depend- 
ence. No  man,  however,  can  truly  understand  their 
institutions  and  the  policy  on  which  they  were 
founded,  without  taking  as  the  basis  of  all  reason- 
ings concerning  them,  that  civil  independence  was  as 

*  Winthrop,  Vol.  i,  p.  45,  note  by  J.  Savage. 


2SI 

truly  their  object,  as  religious  liberty ;  *  —  in  other 
words,  that  the  possession  of  the  former  was,  in  their 
opinion,  the  essential  means — indispensable  to  the 
secure  enjoyment  of  the  latter,  which  was  their 
great  end. 

The  master-passion  of  our  early  ancestors  was 
dread  of  the  English  hierarchy.  To  place  them- 
selves, locally,  beyond  the  reach  of  its  power,  they 
resolved  to  emigrate.  To  secure  themselves,  after 
their  emigration,  from  the  arm  of  this  their  ancient 
oppressor,  they  devised  a  plan,  which,  as  they 
thought,  would  enable  them  to  estabUsh,  under  a 
nominal  subjection,  an  actual  independence.  The 
bold  and  original  conception,  which  they  had  the 
spirit  to  form  and  successfully  to  execute,  was  the 
attainment  and  perpetuation  of  religious  liberty, 
under  the  auspices  of  a  free  commonwealth.f  This 
is  the  master-key  to  all  their  policy,  —  this  the 
glorious  spirit  which  breathes  in  all  their  institutions. 
Whatever  in  them  is  stern,  exclusive,  or  at  this  day 
seems  questionable,  may  be  accounted  for,  if  not 
justified,  by  its  connexion  with  this  great  purpose. 

The  question  has  often  been  raised,  when  and  by 
whom  the  idea  of  independence  of  the  parent  state 
was  first  conceived,  and  by  whose  act  a  settled  purpose 
to  effect  it  was  first  indicated.  History  does  not 
permit  the  people  of  Massachusetts  to  make  a  ques- 
tion of  this  kind.  The  honour  of  that  thought,  and  of 
as  efficient  a  declaration  of  it  as  in  their  circumstances 
was  possible,  belongs  to  Winthrop,  and  Dudley,  and 
Saltonstall,  and  their  associates,  and  was  included 
in  the  declaration,  that  "the  only  condition   on 

*  See  note  B.  f  See  note  C. 


23 

WHICH  THEY  WITH  THEIR  FAMILIES  WOULD  REMOTE 
TO  THIS  COUNTRY,  WAS,  THAT  THE  PATENT  AND 
CHARTER  SHOULD  REMOVE  WITH  THEM."  * 

This  simple  declaration  and  resolve  included,  as 
they  had  the  sagacity  to  perceive,  all  the  conse- 
quences of  an  effectual  independence,  under  a  nom- 
inal subjection.  For  protection  against  foreign  pow- 
ers, a  charter  from  the  parent  state  was  necessary. 
Its  transfer  to  New  England  vested,  effectually,  in- 
dependence. Those  wise  leaders  foresaw,!  that, 
among  the  troubles  in  Europe,  incident  to  the  age, 
and  then  obviously  impending  over  their  parent  state, 
their  settlement,  from  its  distance  and  early  insignifi- 
cance, would  probably  escape  notice.  They  trusted 
to  events,  and  doubtless  anticipated,  that,  with  its 
increasing  strength,  even  nominal  subjection  would 
be  abrogated.  They  knew  that  weakness  was  the 
law  of  nature,  in  the  relation  between  parent  states 
and  their  distant  and  detached  colonies.  Nothing 
else  can  be  inferred,  not  only  from  their  making 
the  transfer  of  the  charter  the  essential  condition  of 
their  emigration,  thereby  severing  themselves  from 
all  responsibility  to  persons  abroad,  but  also  from 
their  instant  and  undeviating  course  of  policy  after 
their  emigration  ;  in  boldly  assuming  whatever  pow- 
ers were  necessary  to  their  condition,  or  suitable  to 
their  ends,  whether  attributes  of  sovereignty  or  not, 
without  regard  to  the  nature  of  the  consequences 
resulting  from  the  exercise  of  those  powers.  Nor 
was  this  assumption  limited  to  powers  which  might 
be   deduced  from  the  charter,  but  was  extended  to 

*  See  Note  D.  +  See  Note  E. 


21 

such  as  no  act  of  incorporation,  like  that  which  they 
possessed,  could,  by  any  possibility  of  legal  construc- 
tion, be  deemed  to  include.  By  the  magic  of  their 
daring,  a  private  act  of  incorporation  was  transmuted 
into  a  civil  constitution  of  state  ;  under  the  authority  of 
which  they  made  peace  and  declared  war ;  erected 
judicatures ;  coined  money ;  raised  armies ;  built 
fleets  ;  laid  taxes  and  imposts ;  inflicted  fines,  penal- 
ties, and  death ;  and,  in  imitation  of  the  British  con- 
stitution, by  the  consent  of  all  its  own  branches,  with- 
out asking  leave  of  any  other,  their  legislature  modi- 
fied its  own  powers  and  relations,  prescribed  the  qual- 
ifications of  those  who  should  conduct  its  authority, 
and  enjoy,  or  be  excluded  from  its  privileges.  The 
administration  of  the  civil  aff'airs  of  Massachusetts, 
for  the  sixty  years  next  succeeding  the  settlement  of 
this  metropolis,  was  a  phenomenon  in  the  history  of 
civil  government.  Under  a  theoretic  colonial  rela- 
tion, an  efficient  and  independent  Commonwealth 
was  erected,  claiming  and  exercising  attributes  of 
sovereignty,  higher  and  far  more  extensive  than, 
at  the  present  day,  in  consequence  of  its  con- 
nexion with  the  general  government,  Massachusetts 
pretends  either  to  exercise  or  possess.  Well  might 
Chalmers  assert,  as  in  his  Political  Annals  of  the 
Colonies  he  does,  that  "  Massachusetts,  with  a  pe- 
culiar dexterity,  abolished  her  charter  ;  "  *  that  she 
was  always  "  fruitful  in  projects  of  independence, 
the  principles  of  which,  at  all  times,  governed  her 
actions."  f  In  this  point  of  view,  it  is  glory  enough 
for  our  early  ancestors,   that,   under  manifold  dis- 

*  VoL  1.  p.  200.  t  Vol.  I.  pp.  158  and  177. 


25 

advantages,  in  the  midst  of  internal  discontent  and 
external  violence  and  intrigue,  of  wars  with  the  sav- 
ages and  with  the  neighbouring  colonies  of  France, 
they  etfected  their  purpose,  and  for  two  generations 
of  men,  from  1630  to  1692,  enjoyed  liberty  of  con- 
science, according  to  their  view  of  that  subject,  un- 
der the  auspices  of  a  free  commonwealth. 

The  three  objects,  which  our  ancestors  proposed 
to  attain  and  perpetuate  by  all  their  institutions,  were 
the  noblest  within  the  grasp  of  tlie  human  mind,  and 
those,  on  which,  more  than  on  any  other,  depend  hu- 
man happiness  and  hope  ;  —  religious  liberty,  —  civil 
liberty,  —  and,  as  essential  to  the  attainment  and 
maintenance  of  both,  intellectual  power. 

On  the  subject  of  religious  liberty,  their  intolerance 
of  other  sects  has  been  reprobated  as  an  inconsistency, 
and  as  violating  the  very  rights  of  conscience  for  which 
they  emigrated.  The  inconsistency,  if  it  exist,  is  al- 
together constructive,  and  the  charge  proceeds  on  a 
false  assumption.  The  necessity  of  the  policy,*  con- 
sidered in  connexion  with  their  great  design  of  inde- 
pendence, is  apparent.  They  had  abandoned  house 
and  home,  had  sacrificed  the  comforts  of  kindred  and 
cultivated  life,  had  dared  the  dangers  of  the  sea,  and 
were  then  braving  the  still  more  appalling  terrors 
of  the  wilderness;  for  what?  —  to  acquire  Hberty 
for  all  sorts  of  consciences  ?  Not  so  ;  but  to  vindi- 
cate and  maintain  the  liberty  of  their  own  con- 
sciences. They  did  not  cross  the  Atlantic,  on  a 
crusade,  in  behalf  of  the  rights  of  mankind  in  gene- 
ral,  but  in  support  of  their  own  rights  and  liberties. 

*  See  Note  F. 

4 


26 

Tolerate  !  Tolerate  whom  7  The  legate  of  the  Ro- 
man Pontiff,  or  the  emissary  of  Charles  the  First  and 
Archbishop  Laud  ?  How  consummate  would  have 
been  their  folly  and  madness,  to  have  fled  into  the 
wilderness  to  escape  the  horrible  persecutions  of 
those  hierarchies,  and  at  once  have  admitted  into 
the  bosom  of  their  society,  men  brandishing,  and 
ready  to  apply,  the  very  flames  and  fetters  from 
which  they  had  fled  !  Those  who  are  disposed  to 
condemn  them  on  this  account,  neither  realize  the 
necessities  of  their  condition,  nor  the  prevaiUng 
character  of  the  times.  Under  the  stern  discipline 
of  Elizabeth  and  James,  the  stupid  bigotry  of  the 
First  Charles,  and  the  spiritual  pride  of  Archbishop 
Laud,  the  spirit  of  the  English  hierarchy  was  very 
diff"erent  from  that  which  it  assumed,  when,  af- 
ter having  been  tamed  and  humanized  under  the 
wholesome  discipline  of  Cromwell  and  his  common- 
wealth, it  yielded  itself  to  the  mild  influence  of  the 
principles  of  1688,  and  to  the  liberal  spirit  of  Til- 
lotson. 

But  it  is  said,  if  they  did  not  tolerate  their  an- 
cient persecutors,  they  might,  at  least,  have  tole- 
rated rival  sects.  That  is,  they  ought  to  have  tole- 
rated sects,  imbued  with  the  same  principles  of  in- 
tolerance as  the  transatlantic  hierarchies;  sects,  whose 
first  use  of  power  would  have  been  to  endeavour  to 
uproot  the  hberty  of  our  fathers,  and  persecute 
them,  according  to  the  known  principles  of  sectarian 
action,  with  a  virulence  in  the  inverse  ratio  of  their 
reciprocal  likeness  and  proximity.  Those,  who  thus 
reason  and  thus  condemn,  have  considered  but  very 
superficially  the  nature  of  the  human  mind  and  its 
actual  condition  in  the  time  of  our  ancestors. 


27 

The  great  doctrine,  now  so  universally  recognised, 
that  liberty  of  conscience  is  the  right  of  the  individ- 
ual,—  a  concern  between  every  man  and  his  Maker, 
with  which  the  civil  magistrate  is  not  authorized  to 
interfere,  was  scarcely,  in  their  day,  known,  except 
in  private  theory  and  solitary  speculation  ;  as  a  prac- 
tical truth,  to  be  acted  upon  by  the  civil  power,  it 
was  absolutely  and  universally  rejected  by  all  men, 
all  parties,  and  all  sects,  as  totally  subversive,  not 
only  of  the  peace  of  the  church,  but  of  the  peace  of 
society.*  That  great  truth,  now  deemed  so  simple 
and  plain,  was  so  far  from  being  an  easy  discovery  of 
the  human  intellect,  that  it  may  be  doubted  whether 
it  would  ever  have  been  discovered  by  human  rea- 
son at  all,  had  it  not  been  for  the  miseries  in  which 
man  was  involved  in  consequence  of  his  ignorance  of 
it.  That  truth  was  not  evolved  by  the  calm  exer- 
tion of  the  human  faculties,  but  was  stricken  out  by 
the  collision  of  the  human  passions.  It  was  not  the 
result  of  philosophic  research,  but  was  a  hard 
lesson,  taught  under  the  lash  of  a  severe  disci- 
pline, provided  for  the  gradual  instruction  of  a  being 
like  man,  not  easily  brought  into  subjection  to  vir- 
tue, and  with  natural  propensities  to  pride,  ambition, 
avarice,  and  selfishness.  Previously  to  that  time,  in 
all  modifications  of  society,  ancient  or  modern,  re- 
ligion had  been  seen  only  in  close  connexion  with 
the  state.  It  was  the  universal  instrument  by  which 
worldly  ambition  shaped  and  moulded  the  multitude 
to  its  ends.  To  have  attempted  the  establishment 
of  a  state  on  the  basis  of  a  perfect  freedom  of  re- 

*  Hume's  History  of  England,  Vol.  vi.  p.  168. 


28 

ligious  opinion,  and  the  perfect  right  of  every  man  to 
express  his  opinion,  would  then  have  been  consid- 
ered as  much  a  solecism,  and  an  experiment  quite 
as  wild  and  visionary,  as  it  would  be,  at  this  day,  to 
attempt  the  establishment  of  a  state  on  the  principle 
of  a  perfect  liberty  of  individual  action,  and  the  per- 
fect right  of  every  man  to  conduct  himself  according 
to  his  private  will.  Had  our  early  ancestors  adopted 
the  course  we,  at  this  day,  are  apt  to  deem  so  easy 
and  obvious,  and  placed  their  government  on  the  ba- 
sis of  liberty  for  all  sorts,  of  consciences,  it  would 
have  been,  in  that  age,  a  certain  introduction  of  an- 
archy. It  cannot  be  questioned,  that  all  the  fond 
hopes  they  had  cherished  from  emigration  would 
have  been  lost.  The  agents  of  Charles  and  James 
would  have  planted  here  the  standard  of  the  transat- 
lantic monarchy  and  hierarchy.  Divided  and  broken, 
without  practical  energy,  subject  to  court-influences 
and  court-favorites.  New  England  at  this  day  would 
have  been  a  colony  of  the  parent  state,*  her  charac- 
ter yet  to  be  formed  and  her  independence  yet  to 
be  vindicated. 

The  non-toleration,  which  characterized  our  early 
ancestors,  from  whatever  source  it  may  have  originat- 
ed, had  undoubtedly  the  effect  they  intended  and  wish- 
ed.  It  excluded  from  influence  in  their  infant  set- 
tlement all  the  friends  and  adherents  of  the  ancient 
monarchy  and  hierarchy ;  all  who,  from  any  motive, 
ecclesiastical  or  civil,  were  disposed  to  disturb  their 
peace  or  their  churches.  They  considered  it  a  meas- 
ure of  "  self-defence.^*    And  it  is  unquestionable,  that 

*  See  Note  G. 


29 

it  was  chiefly  instrumental  in  forming  the  homogene- 
ous and  exclusively  republican  character,  for  which 
the  people  of  New-J^nsijlaml  have,  in  all  times,  been 
distinguished  ;  and,  above  all,  that  it  fixed  irrevocably 
in  the  country  that  noble  security  for  religious  liber- 
ty, the  independent  system  of  church  government. 

The  principle  of  the  independence  of  the  churches, 
including  the  right  of  every  individual  to  unite  with 
what  church  he  pleases,  under  whatever  sectarian 
auspices  it  may  have  been  fostered,  has,  through  the 
influence  of  time  and  experience,  lost  altogether  its 
exclusive  character.  It  has  become  the  universal 
guarantee  of  religious  liberty  to  all  sects  without  dis- 
crimination, and  is  as  much  the  protector  of  the  Ro- 
man Catholic,  the  Episcopalian,  and  the  Presbyterian, 
as  of  the  Independent  form  of  worship.  The  secu- 
rity, which  results  from  this  principle,  does  not  de- 
pend upon  charters  and  constitutions,  but  on  what  is 
stronger  than  either,  the  nature  of  the  principle  in 
connexion  with  the  nature  of  man.  So  long  as  this 
intellectual,  moral,  and  religious  being,  man,  is  con- 
stituted as  he  is,  the  unrestricted  liberty  of  associat- 
ing for  public  worship,  and  the  independence  of 
those  associations  of  external  control,  will  necessari- 
ly lead  to  a  most  happy  number  and  variety  of  them. 
In  the  principle  of  the  independence  of  each,  the 
liberty  of  individual  conscience  is  safe  under  the  pan- 
oply of  the  common  interest  of  all.  No  other  per- 
fect security  for  liberty  of  conscience  was  ever  de- 
vised by  man,  except  this  independence  of  the 
churches.  This  possessed,  liberty  of  conscience 
has  no  danger.  This  denied,  it  has  no  safety. 
There  can  be  no  greater  human  security  than  com- 


30 

mon  right,  placed  under  the  protection  of  common 
interest. 

It  is  the  excellence  and  beauty  of  this  simple  prin- 
ciple, that,  while  it  secures  all,  it  restricts  none. 
They,  who  dehght  in  lofty  and  splendid  monuments 
of  ecclesiastical  architecture,  may  raise  the  pyramid 
of  church  power,  with  its  aspiring  steps  and  grada- 
tions, until  it  terminate  in  the  despotism  of  one,  or  a 
few ;  the  humble  dwellers  at  the  base  of  the  proud 
edifice  may  wonder,  and  admire  the  ingenuity  of  the 
contrivance  and  the  splendor  of  its  massive  dimen- 
sions, but  it  is  without  envy  and  without  fear.  Safe 
in  the  principle  of  independence,  they  worship,  be 
it  in  tent,  or  tabernacle,  or  in  the  open  air,  as  secure- 
ly as  though  standing  on  the  topmost  pinnacle  of  the 
loftiest  fabric  ambition  ever  devised. 

The  glory  of  discovering  and  putting  this  principle 
to  the  test,  on  a  scale  capable  of  trying  its  efficacy,  be- 
longs to  the  fathers  of  Massachusetts,*  who  are  enti- 
tled to  a  full  share  of  that  acknowledgment  made  by 
Hume,  when  he  asserts,  "  that  for  all  the  liberty  of 
the  English  constitution  that  nation  is  indebted  to 
the  Puritans." 

The  glory  of  our  ancestors  radiates  from  no  point 
more  strongly  than  from  their  institutions  of  learning. 
The  people  of  New  England  are  the  first  known  to 
history,  who  provided,  in  the  original  constitution  of 
their  society,  for  the  education  of  the  whole  popu- 
lation out  of  the  general  fund.  In  other  countries, 
provisions  have  been  made  of  this  character  in  favor 
of  certain  particular  classes,  or  for  the  poor  by  way 

*  Neal's  History  of  the  Puritans.    Vol.  i.  p.  438  and  490. 


31 

of  charity.  But  here  first  were  the  children  of  the 
whole  community  invested  with  the  right  of  being 
educated  at  the  expense  of  the  whole  society ;  and 
not  only  this, —  the  obligation  to  take  advantage  of 
that  right  was  enforced  by  severe  supervision  and 
penalties.  By  simple  laws  they  founded  their 
commonwealth  on  the  only  basis  on  which  a  re- 
public has  any  hope  of  happiness  or  continuance, 
the  general  information  of  the  people.  They  de- 
nominated it  "barbarism"  not  to  be  able  "perfectly 
to  read  the  English  tongue  and  to  know  the  general 
laws."*  In  soliciting  a  general  contribution  for  the 
support  of  the  neighbouring  University,  they  declare 
that  "  skill  in  the  tongues  and  liberal  arts,  is  not  only 
laudable,  but  necessanj  for  the  well-being  of  the  com- 
monwealth." f  And  in  requiring  every  town,  having 
one  hundred  house-holders,  to  set  up  a  Grammar 
School,  provided  with  a  master  able  to  fit  youth  for 
the  University,  the  object  avowed  is,  "  to  enable  men 
to  obtain  a  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  and  by  ac- 
quaintance with  the  ancient  tongues  to  qualify  them 
to  discern  the  true  sense  and  meaning  of  the  origin- 
al, however  corrupted  by  false  glosses."  Thus  lib- 
eral and  thus  elevated,  in  respect  of  learning,  were 
the  views  of  our  ancestors. 

To  the  same  master-passion,  dread  of  the  English 
hierarchy,  and  the  same  main  purpose,  civil  inde- 
pendence, may  be  attributed,  in  a  great  degree,  the 
nature  of  the  government  which  the  principal  civil  and 
spiritual  influences  of  the  time  established,  and,  not- 
withstanding its  many  objectionable  features,  the 
willing  submission  to  it  of  the  people. 

*  Old  Colony  Laws,  p.  '2(!. 

t  Records  of  the  Colony,  p.  117.     19th  Oct.  1652. 


32 

It  cannot  be  questioned  that  the  constitution  of  the 
state,  as  sketched  in  the  first  laws  of  our  ancestors, 
was  a  skilful  combination  of  both  civil  and  ecclesias- 
tical powers.  Church  and  state  were  very  curiously 
and  efficiently  interwoven  with  each  other.  It  is 
usual  to  attribute  to  religious  bigotry  the  submission 
of  the  mass  of  the  people  to  a  system  thus  stern  and 
exclusive.  It  may  however,  with  quite  as  much 
justice,  be  resolved  into  love  of  independence  and 
political  sagacity. 

The  great  body  of  the  first  emigrants  doubtless  co- 
incided in  general  religious  views  with  those  whose  in- 
fluence predominated  in  their  church  and  state.  They 
had  consequently  no  personal  objection  to  the  stern 
discipline  their  political  system  established.  They 
had  also  the  sagacity  to  foresee  that  a  system,  which 
by  its  rigor  should  exclude  from  power  all  who  did 
not  concur  with  their  religious  views,  would  have 
a  direct  tendency  to  deter  those  in  other  countries 
from  emigrating  to  their  settlement,  who  did  not 
agree  with  the  general  plan  of  policy  they  had 
adopted,  and  of  consequence  to  increase  the  probabili- 
ty of  their  escape  from  the  interference  of  their  an- 
cient oppressors,  and  the  chance  of  success  in  laying 
the  foundation  of  the  free  commonwealth  they  con- 
templated. They  also  doubtless  perceived,  that 
with  the  unqualified  possession  of  the  elective  fran- 
chise, they  had  little  reason  to  apprehend  that  they 
could  not  easily  control  or  annihilate  any  ill  effect 
upon  their  political  system,  arising  from  the  union  of 
church  and  state,  should  it  become  insupportable. 

There  is  abundant  evidence  that  the  submission  of 
the  people  to  this  new  form  of  church  and  state  com- 


38 

bination  was  not  owing  to  ignorance,  or  to  indiffer- 
ence to  the  true  principles  of  civil  and  religious  lib- 
erty. Notwithstanding  the  strong  attachment  of  the 
early  emigrants  to  their  civil,  and  their  almost  blind 
devotion  to  their  ecclesiastical  leaders,  when,  pre- 
suming on  their  influence,  either  attempted  any  thing 
inconsistent  with  general  liberty,  a  corrective  is  seen 
almost  immediately  applied  by  the  spirit  and  in- 
telligence of  the  people. 

In  this  respect,  the  character  of  the  people  of 
Boston  has  been  at  all  times  distinguished.  In  every 
period  of  our  history,  they  have  been  second  to  none 
in  quickness  to  discern  or  in  readiness  to  meet 
every  exigency,  fearlessly  hazarding  life  and  for- 
tune in  support  of  the  Hberties  of  the  commonwealth. 
It  would  be  easy  to  maintain  these  positions  by  a  re- 
currence to  the  annals  of  each  successive  age,  and 
particularly  to  facts  connected  with  our  revolutionary 
struggle.  A  few  instances  only  will  be  noticed,  and 
those  selected  from  the  earliest  times. 

A  natural  jealousy  soon  sprung  up  in  the  me- 
tropolis as  to  the  intentions  of  their  civil  and  ec- 
clesiastical leaders.*  In  1634  the  people  began  to 
fear,  lest,  by  re-electing  Winthrop,  they  "  should 
make  way  for  a  Governor  for  life."  They  accord- 
ingly gave  some  indications  of  a  design  to  elect  an- 
other person.  Upon  which  John  Cotton,  their  great 
ecclesiastical  head,  then  at  the  height  of  his  popu- 
larity, preached  a  discourse  to  the  General  Court, 
and  delivered  this  doctrine  ;  "  that  a  magistrate  ought 
not  to  be  turned  out,  without  just  cause,  no  more 
than  a  magistrate  might  turn  out  a  private  man  from 

•  Winthrop,  Vol.  i.  p.  299. 


34 

his  freehold,  without  trial."  *  To  show  their  dislike 
of  the  doctrine  by  the  most  practical  of  evidences, 
our  ancestors  gave  the  political  divine  and  his  ad- 
herents a  succession  of  lessons,  for  which  they  were 
probably  the  wiser  all  the  rest  of  their  lives.  They 
turned  out  Winthrop  at  the  very  same  election,  and 
put  in  Dudley.  The  year  after,  they  turned  out 
Dudley  and  put  in  Haynes.  The  year  after,  they 
turned  out  Haynes  and  put  in  Vane.  So  much  for  the 
first  broaching,  in  Boston,  of  the  doctrine  that  public 
office  is  of  the  nature  of  freehold. 

In  1635,  an  attempt  was  made  by  the  General  Court, 
to  elect  a  certain  number  of  magistrates  as  coun- 
sellors ybr  life.\  Although  Cotton  was  the  author  also 
of  this  project,  and  notwithstanding  his  influence,  yet 
such  was  the  spirit  displayed  by  our  ancestors  on  the 
occasion,  that  within  three  years  the  General  Court  J 
was  compelled  to  pass  a  vote,  denying  any  such  in- 
tent, and  declaring  that  the  persons  so  chosen 
should  not  be  accounted  magistrates  or  have  any  au- 
thority in  consequence  of  such  election. 

In  1636,  the  great  Antinomian  controversy  divided 
the  country.  Boston  was  for  the  covenant  of  grace  ; 
the  General  Court,  for  the  covenant  of  works.  Under 
pretence  of  the  apprehension  of  a  riot,  the  General 
Court  adjourned  to  Newtown,  and  expelled  the  Boston 
deputies  for  daring  to  remonstrate.  Boston,  in- 
dignant at  this  infringement  of  its  hberties,  was 
about  electing  the  same  deputies  a  second  time.  At 
the  earnest  solicitation  of  Cotton,  however,  they 
chose  others.     One  of  these  was  also  expelled  by 


♦  Winthrop,  Vol.  i.  p.  132.        f  Ibid.  p.  186.        |  Ibid.  p.  302. 


35 

the  Court ;  and  a  writ  having  issued  to  the  town 
ordering  a  new  election,  they  refused  making  any  re- 
turn to  the  warrant, —  a  contempt  which  the  General 
Court  did  not  think  it  wise  to  resent. 

In  1639,  there  being  vacancies  in  the  board  of  as- 
sistants, the  Governor  and  magistrates  met  and  nomi- 
nated three  persons,  "  not  with  intent,"  as  they  said, 
"  to  lead  the  people's  choice  of  these,  nor  to  divert 
them  from  any  other,  but  only  to  propound  for  con- 
sideration (which  any  freeman  may  do),  and  so 
leave  the  people  to  use  their  hberties  according  to 
their  consciences."  The  result  was,  that  the  peo- 
ple did  use  their  liberties  according  to  their  con- 
sciences. They  chose  not  a  man  of  them.*  So 
much  for  the  first  legislative  caucus  in  our  history. 
It  probably  would  have  been  happy  for  their  posteri- 
ty, if  the  people  had  always  treated  like  nominations 
with  as  little  ceremony. 

About  this  time  also  the  General  Court  took  ex- 
ception at  the  length  of  the  ^^ lectures"  then  the  great 
delight  of  the  people,  and  at  the  ill  effects  resulting 
from  their  frequency;  whereby  poor  people  were  led 
greatly  to  neglect  their  affairs ;  to  the  great  hazard  al- 
so of  their  health,  owing  to  their  long  continuance  in 
the  night.  Boston  expressed  strong  dislike  f  at  this  in- 
terference, "  fearing  that  the  precedent  might  enthrall 
them  to  the  civil  power,  and,  besides,  be  a  blemish  up- 
on them  with  their  posterity,  as  though  they  needed  to 
be  regulated  by  the  civil  magistrate,  and  raise  an  ill- 
savour  of  their  coldness,  as  if  it  were  possible  for  the 
people  of  Boston  to  complain  of  too  much  preaching." 


•  Ibid.  Vol.  II.  p.  34.'J.  f  Ibid.  Vol.  i.  p.  .32.>. 


f;  The  magistrates,  fearful  lest  the  people  should 
break  their  bonds,  were  content  to  apologize,  to 
abandon  the  scheme  of  shortening  lectures  or  dimin- 
ishing their  number,  and  to  rest  satisfied  with  a  gen- 
eral understanding  that  assemblies  should  break  up 
in  such  season,  as  that  people,  dwelling  a  mile  or  two 
off,  might  get  home  by  dayhght.  Winthrop,  on  this 
occasion,  passes  the  following  eulogium  on  the  peo- 
ple of  Boston,  which  every  period  of  their  history 
amply  confirms  ;  —  "They  were  generally  of  that  un- 
derstanding and  moderation,  as  that  they  would  be 
easily  guided  in  their  way  by  any  rule  from  Scrip- 
ture or  sound  reason." 

It  is  curious  and  instructive  to  trace  the  principles 
of  our  constitution,  as  they  were  successively  sug- 
gested by  circumstances,  and  gradually  gained  by  the 
intelligence  and  daring  spirit  of  the  people.  For  the 
first  four  years  after  their  emigration,  the  freemen, 
like  other  corporations,  met  and  transacted  business 
in  a  body.  At  this  time  the  people  attained  a  repre- 
sentation under  the  name  of  deputies,  who  sat  in  the 
same  room  with  the  magistrates,  to  whose  negative 
all  their  proceedings  were  subjected.  Next  arose 
the  struggle  about  the  negative,  which  lasted  for  ten 
years,  and  eventuated  in  the  separation  of  the  Gen- 
eral Court  into  two  branches,  with  each  a  negative  on 
the  other.*  Then  came  the  jealousy  of  the  deputies 
concerning  the  magistrates,  f  as  proceeding  too  much 
by  their  discretion  for  want  of  positive  laws,  and  the 
demand  by  the  deputies  that  persons  should  be  ap- 
pointed to  frame  a  body  of  fundamental  laws  in  re- 
semblance of  the  English  Magna  Charta. 

•  Winthrop,  Vol.  i.  p.  160.  f  Ibid.  p.  322. 


37 

After  this  occurred  the  controversy*  relative  to 
the  powers  of  the  magistrates,  during  the  recess  of 
the  General  Court ;  concerning  which  when  the 
deputies  found  that  no  compromise  could  be  made, 
and  the  magistrates  declared  that,  "  if  occasion 
required,  they  should  act  according  to  the  power  and 
trust  committed  to  them,"  the  speaker  of  the  house 
in   his  place   replied, — "Then,   gentlemen,  you 

WILL  NOT  BE  OBEYED." 

In  every  period  of  our  early  history,  the  friends  of 
the  ancient  hierarchy  and  monarchy  were  assiduous 
in  their  endeavours  to  introduce  a  form  of  govern- 
ment on  the  principle  of  an  efficient  colonial  relation. 
Our  ancestors  were  no  less  vigilant  to  avail  them- 
selves of  their  local  situation  and  of  the  difficulties  of 
the  parent  state  to  defeat  those  attempts;  —  or,  in 
their  language,  "  to  avoid  and  protract."  They  lived, 
however,  under  a  perpetual  apprehension,  that  a  royal 
governor  would  be  imposed  upon  them  by  the  law  of 
force.  Their  resolution  never  faltered  on  the  point 
of  resistance,  to  the  extent  of  their  power.  Notwith- 
standing Boston  would  have  been  the  scene  of  the 
struggle,  and  the  first  victim  to  it,  yet  its  inhabitants 
never  shrunk  from  their  duty  through  fear  of  danger, 
and  were  always  among  the  foremost  to  prepare  for 
every  exigency.  Castle  Island  was  fortified  chiefly, 
and  the  battery  at  the  north  end  of  the  town,  and 
that  called  the  "  Sconce,"  wholly,  by  the  voluntary 
contributions  of  its  inhabitants.  After  the  restora- 
tion of  Charles  the  Second,  their  instructions  to  their 
representatives  in  the   General   Court,  breathe  one 

*  Ibid.  Vol.  u.  p.  169. 

•M>HC>7A 


3S 

uniform  spirit,  —  "not  to  recede  from  their  just 
rights  and  privileges  as  secured  by  the  patent." 
When,  in  1662,  the  king's  Commissioners  came  to 
Boston,  the  inhabitants,  to  show  their  spirit  in  sup- 
port of  their  own  laws,  took  measures  to  have  them 
all  arrested  for  a  breach  of  the  Saturday  evening  law ; 
and  actually  brought  them  before  the  magistrate  for 
riotous  and  abusive  carriage.  When  Randolph,  in 
1684,  came  Math  his  quo  warranto  against  their  char- 
ter, on  the  question  being  taken  in  town  meeting, 
"  whether  the  freemen  were  minded  that  the  Gen- 
eral Court  should  make  full  submission  and  entire 
resignation  of  their  charter,  and  of  the  privileges 
therein  granted,  to  his  Majesty's  pleasure,"  —  Boston 
resolved  in  the  negative,  without  a  dissentient. 

In  1689,  the  tyranny  of  Andros,  the  Governor  ap- 
pointed by  James  the  Second,  having  become  insup- 
portable to  the  whole  country,  Boston  rose,  like  one 
man ;  took  the  battery  on  Fort  Hill  by  assault  in  open 
day;  made  prisoners  of  the  king's  Governor,  and 
the  Captain  of  the  king's  frigate,  then  lying  in  the 
harbour;  and  restored,  with  the  concurrence  of  the 
country,  the  authority  of  the  old  charter  leaders. 

By  accepting  the  charter  of  William  and  Mary,  in 
1692,  the  people  of  Massachusetts  first  yielded  their 
claims  of  independence  to  the  crown.  It  is  only 
requisite  to  read  the  official  account  of  the  agents  of 
the  colony,  to  perceive  both  the  resistance  they 
made  to  that  charter,  and  the  necessity  which 
compelled  their  acceptance  of  it.*     Those   agents 

*See  "  A  brief  Account  concerning  the  Agents  of  New  England, 
and  their  Negotiation  with  the  Court  of  England.  By  Increase 
Mather."    London.    1691. 


39 

were  told  by  the  king's  ministers,  that  they  "  must 
take  that  or  none;  —  that  "their  consent  to  it  was 
not  asked,"  —  that  if  "  ihey  would  not  submit  to  the 
king's  pleasure  they  must  take  what  would  follow." 
"  The  opinion  of  our  lawyers,"  say  the  agents,  "  was, 
that  a  passive  submission  to  the  new,  was  not  a 
surrender  of  the  old  charter ;  and  that  their  taking 
up  with  this  did  not  make  the  people  of  Massachu- 
setts, in  law,  uncapable  of  obtaining  all  their  old 
prwileges^  whenever  a  favorable  opportunity  should 
present  itself. ^^  In  the  year  1776,  nearly  a  century 
afterwards,  that  "  favorable  opportunity  did  present 
itself,"  and  the  people  of  Massachusetts,  in  conformity 
with  the  opinion  of  their  learned  counsel  and  faithful 
agents,  did  vindicate  and  obtain  all  their  "  old 
privileges  "  of  self-government. 

Under  the  new  colonial  government,  thus  authori- 
tatively imposed  upon  them,  arose  new  parties  and 
new  struggles ;  —  prerogative  men,  earnest  for  a 
permanent  salary  for  the  king's  governor;  —  patriots, 
resisting  such  an  establishment,  and  indignant  at  the 
negative  exercised  by  that  officer. 

At  the  end  of  the  first  century  after  the  settlement, 
three  generations  of  men  had  passed  away.  For 
vigor,  boldness,  enterprise,  and  a  self-sacrificing 
spirit,  Massachusetts  stood  unrivalled.*  She  had 
added  wealth  and  extensive  dominion  to  the  English 
crown.  She  had  turned  a  barren  wilderness  into  a 
cultivated  field,  and  instead  of  barbarous  tribes  had 
planted  civihzed  communities.  She  had  prevented 
France  from  taking  possession  of  the  whole  of  North 

*  See  "  A  Defence  of  the   New    England   Charters  by  Jeremiah 
Dummer,"  printed  in  1721. 


40 

America ;  conquered  Port  Royal  and  Acadia ;  and 
attempted  the  conquest  of  Canada  with  a  fleet  of 
thirty-two  sail  and  two  thousand  men.  At  one  time 
a  fifth  of  her  whole  efFecdve  male  population  was 
in  arms.  When  Nevis  was  plundered  by  Iberville, 
she  voluntarily  transmitted  two  thousand  pounds 
sterling  for  the  relief  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  island. 
By  these  exertions  her  resources  were  exhausted, 
her  treasury  was  impoverished,  and  she  stood  bereft, 
and  "  alone  with  her  glory." 

Boston  shared  in  the  embarassments  of  the  com- 
monwealth. Her  commerce  was  crippled  by  severe 
revenue  laws,  and  by  a  depreciated  currency.  Her 
population  did  not  exceed  fifteen  thousand.  In 
September,  1730,  she  was  prevented  from  all  notice 
of  this  anniversary  by  the  desolations  of  the  small- 
pox. 

Notwithstanding  the  darkness  of  these  clouds, 
which  overhung  Massachusetts  and  its  metropolis  at 
the  close  of  the  first  century,  in  other  aspects  the 
dawn  of  a  brighter  day  may  be  discerned.  The  ex- 
clusive policy  in  matters  of  rehgion,  to  which  the  state 
had  been  subjected,  began  gradually  to  give  place  to  a 
more  perfect  liberty.  Literature  was  exchanging  sub- 
tile metaphysics,  quaint  conceits,  and  unwieldy  lore, 
for  inartificial  reasoning,  simple  taste,  and  natural 
thought.  Dummer  defended  the  colony  in  language 
polished  in  the  society  of  Pope  and  of  Bolingbroke. 
Coleman,  Cooper,  Chauncy,  Bowdoin,  and  others  of 
that  constellation,  were  on  the  horizon.  By  their 
side  shone  the  star  of  Franklin ;  its  early  brightness 
giving  promise  of  its  meridian  splendors.  Even  now 
began  to  appear   signs   of  revolution.      Voices   of 


41 

complaint  and  murmur  were  heard  in  the  air.  "  Spir- 
its finely  touched  and  to  fine  issues," — willing  and 
fearless, — breathing  unutterable  things,  flashed  along 
the  darkness.  In  the  sky  were  seen  streaming  lights, 
indicating  the  approach  of  luminaries  yet  below  the 
horizon  ;  Adams,  Hancock,  Otis,  Warren ;  leaders 
of  a  glorious  host;  —  precursors  of  eventful  times; 
"  with  fear  of  change  perplexing  monarchs." 

It  would  be  appropriate,  did  time  permit,  to 
speak  of  these  luminaries,  in  connexion  with  our 
revolution  ;  to  trace  the  principles,  which  dictated 
the  first  emigration  of  the  founders  of  this  me- 
tropolis, through  the  several  stages  of  their  devel- 
opement ;  and  to  show  that  the  declaration  of  inde- 
pendence, in  1776,  itself,  and  all  the  struggles  which 
preceded  it,  and  all  the  voluntary  sacrifices,  the  self- 
devotion,  and  the  sufferings,  to  which  the  people  of 
that  day  submitted,  for  the  attainment  of  indepen- 
dence, were,  so  far  as  respects  Massachusetts,  but 
the  natural  and  inevitable  consequences  of  the  terms 
of  that  noble  engagement,  made  by  our  ancestors,  in 
August^  1 629,  the  year  before  their  emigration ;  — 
which  may  well  be  denominated,  from  its  early  and 
later  results,  the  first  and  original  declaration  of 
independence  by  Massachusetts. 

"  By  God's  assistance,  we  will  he  ready  in  our  per- 
sons, and  tcith  such  of  our  families  as  are  to  go  with 
usy  to  embark  for  the  said  plantation  by  the  first  of 
March  next,  to  pass  the  seas  (under  God's  protection) 
to  inhabit  and  continue  in  JVew  England.  Provided 
at  ways,  that  before  the  last  of  September  next,  the 

WHOLK  GOVERNMENT,  TOGETIIKR  WITH  THE  PATENT, 
BE  FIRST  LEGALLY  TRANSFERRED  AND  ESTABLISHED, 

6 


42 

TO    REMAIN    WITH    US   AND    OTHERS,    WHICH    SHALL 

INHABIT  THE  SAID  PLANTATION."  * —  Gcnerous  reso- 
lution !  Noble  foresight !  Sublime  self-devotion ; 
chastened  and  directed  by  a  wisdom,  faithful  and 
prospective  of  distant  consequences  !  Well  may  we 
exclaim  —  "  This  policy  overtopped  all  the  policy  of 
this  world." 

For  the  advancement  of  the  three  great  objects 
which  were  the  scope  of  the  policy  of  our  ances- 
tors,— intellectual  power,  religious  liberty,  and  civil 
liberty, — Boston  has  in  no  period  been  surpassed, 
either  in  readiness  to  incur,  or  in  energy  to  make  use- 
ful, personal  or  pecuniary  sacrifices.  She  provided  for 
the  education  of  her  citizens  out  of  the  general  fund, 
antecedently  to  the  law  of  the  Commonwealth  making 
such  provision  imperative.  Nor  can  it  be  questioned, 
that  her  example  and  influence  had  a  decisive  effect 
in  producing  that  law.  An  intelligent  generosity 
has  been  conspicuous  among  her  inhabitants  on 
this  subject,  from  the  day  when,  in  1635,  they 
"  entreated  our  brother  Philemon  Pormont  to  be- 
come schoolmaster,  for  the  teaching  and  nurturing 
children  with  us,"  to  this  hour,  when  what  is  equiva- 
lent to  a  capital  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand  dollars   is  invested    in    school-houses,    eighty 

*  See  "  A  true  coppie  of  the  agreement  at  Cambridge,  1629,"  in 
Hutchinson's  "  Collection  of  Original  Papers  relative  to  the  History  of 
the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,"  page  25,  signed  by 

Richard  Saltonstall,         Isaac  Johnson, 
Thomas  Dudley,  John  Humfrey, 

William  Vassal,  Thomas  Sharp, 

Nicko :  West,  Increase  Nowell, 

John  Winthrop,  William  Pynchon, 

Kellam  Browne,  William  Colbron. 


43 

schools  are  maintained,  and  seven  thousand  and  five 
hundred  children  educated  at  an  expense  exceeding 
annually  sixty-five  thousand  dollars.  No  city  in 
the  world,  in  proportion  to  its  means  and  population, 
ever  gave  more  uniform  and  unequivocal  evidences 
of  its  desire  to  diffuse  intellectual  power  and  moral 
culture  though  the  whole  mass  of  the  communi- 
ty. The  result  is  every  day  witnessed,  at  home 
and  abroad,  in  private  intercourse  and  in  the  public 
assembly;  in  a  quiet  and  orderly  demeanor,  in  the  self- 
respect  and  mutual  harmony  prevalent  among  its  citi- 
zens ;  in  the  general  comfort  which  characterizes 
their  condition  ;  in  their  submission  to  the  laws  ;  and 
in  that  wonderful  capacity  for  self-government  which 
postponed  for  almost  two  centuries,  a  city  organiza- 
tion ; — and  this,  even  then,  was  adopted  more  with 
reference  to  anticipated,  than  from  experience  of 
existing  evils.  During  the  whole  of  that  period,  and 
even  after  its  population  exceeded  fifty  thousand,  its 
financial,  economical,  and  municipal  interests  were 
managed,  either  by  general  vote,  or  by  men  appoint- 
ed by  the  whole  multitude ;  and  with  a  regularity, 
wisdom,  and  success,  which  it  will  be  happy  if  future 
administrations  shall  equal,  and  which  certainly  they 
will  find  it  difficult  to  exceed. 

The  influence  of  the  institutions  of  our  fathers  is 
also  apparent  in  that  munificence  towards  objects  of 
public  interest  or  charity,  for  which,  in  every  period 
of  its  history,  the  citizens  of  Boston  Jiave  been  dis- 
tinguished, and  which,  by  universal  consent,  is  re- 
cognised to  be  a  prominent  feature  in  their  character. 
To  no  city  has  Boston  ever  been  second  in  its  spirit 
of  Hberality.       From   the    first   settlement   of   the 


44 

country  to  this  day,  It  has  been  a  point  to  which 
have  tended  applications  for  assistance  or  relief,  on 
account  of  suffering  or  misfortune  ;  for  the  patronage 
of  colleges,  the  endowment  of  schools,  the  erection  of 
churches,  and  the  spreading  of  learning  and  religion, — 
from  almost  every  section  of  the  United  States.  Sel- 
dom have  the  hopes  of  any  worthy  applicant  been  dis- 
appointed. The  benevolent  and  public  spirit  of  its 
inhabitants  is  also  evidenced  by  its  hospitals,  its  asy- 
lums, public  libraries,  almshouses,  charitable  associa- 
tions,—  in  its  patronage  of  the  neighbouring  Univer- 
sity, and  in  its  subscriptions  for  general  charities. 

It  is  obviously  impracticable  to  give  any  just  idea 
of  the  amount  of  these  charities.  They  flow  from 
virtues  which  seek  the  shade  and  shun  record.  They 
are  silent  and  secret  out-wellings  of  grateful  hearts, 
desirous  unostentatiously  to  acknowledge  the  bounty 
of  Heaven  in  their  prosperity  and  abundance.  The 
result  of  inquiries,  necessarily  imperfect,  however,  au- 
thorize the  statement,  that,  in  the  records  of  societies 
having  for  their  objects  either  learning  or  some  pub- 
lic charity,  or  in  documents  in  the  hands  of  individ- 
uals relative  to  contributions  for  the  relief  of  suffer- 
ing, or  the  patronage  of  distinguished  merit  or  talent, 
there  exists  evidence  of  the  liberality  of  the  citizens  of 
this  metropolis,  and  that  chiefly  within  the  last  thirty 
years,  of  an  amount,  by  voluntary  donation  or  bequest, 
exceeding  one  milUon  and  eight  hundred  thousand 
dollars.*  Far  short  as  this  sum  falls  of  the  real  amount 
obtained  within  that  period  from  the  liberality  of  our 
citizens,  it  is  yet  enough  to  make  evident,  that  the 

*  See  Note  H. 


46 

best  spirit  of  the  institutions  of  our  ancestors  survives 
in  the  hearts,  and  is  exhibited  in  the  Uvcs,  of  the 
citizens  of  lioston  ;  inspiring  love  of  country  and  du- 
ty ;  stimulating  to  the  active  virtues  of  benevolence 
and  charity  ;  exciting  wealth  and  power  to  their  best 
exercises ;  counteracting  what  is  selfish  in  our  na- 
ture ;  and  elevating  the  moral  and  social  virtues  to 
wise  sacrifices  and  noble  energies. 

With  respect  to  religious  liberty,  where  does  it 
exist  in  a  more  perfect  state,  than  in  this  metropo- 
lis ?  Or  where  has  it  ever  been  enjoyed  in  a  purer 
spirit,  or  with  happier  consequences  ?  In  what  city 
of  equal  population  are  all  classes  of  society  more 
distinguished  for  obedience  to  the  institutions  of  re- 
ligion, for  regular  attendance  on  its  worship,  for  more 
happy  intercourse  with  its  ministers,  or  more  uni- 
formly honorable  support  of  them  ?  In  all  struggles 
connected  with  religious  liberty,  and  these  are  in- 
separable from  its  possession,  it  may  be  said  of  the 
inhabitants  of  this  city,  as  truly  as  of  any  similar  as- 
sociation of  men,  that  they  have  ever  maintained  the 
freedom  of  the  Gospel  in  the  spirit  of  Christianity. 
Divided  into  various  seels,  their  mutual  intercourse 
has,  almost  without  exception,  been  harmonious  and 
respectful.  The  labors  of  intemperate  zealots,  with 
which,  occasionally,  every  age  has  been  troubled,  have 
seldom,  in  this  metropolis,  been  attended  with  their 
natural  and  usual  consequences.  Its  sects  have  nev- 
er been  made  to  fear  or  hate  one  another.  The  ge- 
nius of  its  inhabitants,  through  the  influence  of  the 
intellectual  power  which  pervades  their  mass,  has 
ever  been  quick  to  detect  "  close  ambition  varnished 
o'er  with  zeal."     The  modes,  the  forms,  the  disci- 


46 

pline,  the  opinions,  which  our  ancestors  held  to  be 
essential,  have,  in  many  respects,  been  changed  or 
obliterated  with  the  progress  of  time,  or  been  coun- 
tervailed or  superseded  by  rival  forms  and  opinions. 
But  veneration  for  the  sacred  Scriptures  and  attach- 
ment to  the  right  of  free  inquiry,  which  were  the  sub- 
stantial motives  of  their  emigration  and  of  all  their  in- 
stitutions, remain,  and  are  maintained  in  a  Christian 
spirit,  (judging  by  life  and  language)  certainly  not  ex- 
ceeded in  the  times  of  any  of  our  ancestors.  The  right 
to  read  those  Scriptures  is  universally  recognised. 
The  means  to  acquire  the  possession  and  to  attain  the 
knowledge  of  them  are  multiplied  by  the  intelligence 
and  liberality  of  the  age,  and  extended  to  every  class 
of  society.  All  men  are  invited  to  search  for  them- 
selves concerning  the  grounds  of  their  hopes  of  future 
happiness  and  acceptance.  All  are  permitted  to 
hear  from  the  lips  of  our  Saviour  himself,  that  "  the 
meek,"  "  the  merciful,"  "  the  pure  in  heart,"  "  the 
persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake,"  are  those  who 
shall  receive  the  blessing,  and  be  admitted  to  the 
presence,  of  the  Eternal  Father ;  and  to  be  assured 
from  those  sacred  records,  that,  "  in  every  nation,  he 
who  feareth  God  and  worketh  righteousness  is  ac- 
cepted of  him."  Elevated  by  the  power  of  these 
subhme  assurances,  as  conformable  to  reason  as  to 
revelation,  man's  intellectual  principle  rises  "  above 
the  smoke  and  stir  of  this  dim  spot,"  and,  hke  an 
eagle  soaring  above  the  Andes,  looks  down  on  the 
cloudy  cliffs,  the  narrow,  separating  points,  and  fla- 
ming craters,  which  divide  and  terrify  men  below. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary,  on  this  occasion,  to  speak 
of  civil  liberty,  or  tell  of  our  constitutions  of  govern- 


47 

ment ;  of  the  freedom  they  maintain  and  are  calculated 
to  preserve ;  of  the  equality  they  establish  ;  the  self- 
respect  they  encourage  ;  the  private  and  domestic  vir- 
tues they  cherish  ;  the  love  of  country  they  inspire ; 
the  self-devotion  and  self-sacrifice  they  enjoin  ;  — 
all  these  are  but  the  filling  up  of  the  great  out- 
line sketched  by  our  fathers,  the  parts  in  which, 
through  the  darkness  and  perversity  of  their  times, 
they  were  defective,  being  corrected  ;  all  are  but  en- 
deavours, conformed  to  their  great,  original  concep- 
tion, to  group  together  the  strength  of  society  and  the 
rehgious  and  civil  rights  of  the  individual,  in  a  living 
and  breathing  spirit  of  efficient  power,  by  forms 
of  civil  government,  adapted  to  our  condition,  and 
adjusted  to  social  relations  of  unexampled  greatness 
and  extent,  unparalleled  in  their  results,  and  connect- 
ed by  principles  elevated  as  the  nature  of  man,  and 
immortal  as  his  destinies. 

It  is  not,  however,  from  local  position,  nor  from 
general  circumstances  of  life  and  fortune,  that  the 
peculiar  felicity  of  this  metropolis  is  to  be  deduced. 
Her  enviable  distinction  is,  that  she  is  among  the 
chiefest  of  that  happy  New  England  family,  which 
claims  descent  from  the  early  emigrants.  If  we  take 
a  survey  of  that  family,  and,  excluding  from  our  view 
the  unnumbered  multitudes  of  its  members  who  have 
occupied  the  vacant  wildernesses  of  other  states,  we 
restrict  our  thoughts  to  the  local  sphere  of  New 
England,  what  scenes  open  upon  our  sight !  How 
wild  and  visionary  would  seem  our  prospects,  did 
we  indulge  only  natural  anticipations  of  the  fu- 
ture !  Already,  on  an  area  of  seventy  thousand 
square  miles,  a  population  of  two  millions  ;   all,  but 


48 

comparatively  a  few,  descendants  of  the  early  emi- 
grants !  Six  independent  Commonwealths,  with  con- 
stitutions varying  in  the  relations  and  proportions  of 
power,  yet  uniform  in  all  their  general  principles ; 
diverse  in  their  pohtical  arrangements,  yet  each 
sufficient  for  its  own  necessities ;  all  harmonious 
with  those  without,  and  peaceful  within ;  embra- 
cing, under  the  denomination  of  towns,  upwards 
of  twelve  hundred  effective  republics,  with  quali- 
fied powers,  indeed,  but  possessing  potent  influ- 
ences ;  —  subject  themselves  to  the  respective  state 
sovereignties,  yet  directing  all  their  operations,  and 
shaping  their  policy  by  constitutional  agencies  ; 
swayed,  no  less  than  the  greater  republics,  by  pas- 
sions, interests,  and  affections ;  like  them,  exciting 
competitions  which  rouse  into  action  the  latent  ener- 
gies of  mind,  and  infuse  into  the  mass  of  each  so- 
ciety a  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  its  interests,  and  a 
capacity  to  understand  and  share  in  the  defence  of 
those  of  the  Commonwealth.  The  eff'ect  of  these 
minor  republics  is  daily  seen  in  the  existence  of 
practical  talents,  and  in  the  readiness  with  which 
those  talents  can  be  called  into  the  public  service  of 
the  state. 

If,  after  this  general  survey  of  the  surface  of  New 
England,  we  cast  our  eyes  on  its  cities  and  great 
towns,  with  what  wonder  should  we  behold,  did  not 
familiarity  render  the  phenomenon  almost  unnoticed, 
men,  combined  in  great  multitudes,  possessing  free- 
dom and  the  consciousness  of  strength,  —  the  com- 
parative physical  power  of  the  ruler  less  than  that 
of  a  cobweb  across  a  lion's  path,  —  yet  orderly,  obe- 
dient, and   respectful  to  authority  ;   a  people,  but 


49 

no  populace ;  every  class  in  reality  existing,  which  the 
general  law  of  society  acknowledges,  except  one, — 
and  this  exception  characterizing  the  whole  country. 
The  soil  of  New  England  is  trodden  by  no  slave. 
In  our  streets,  in  our  assemblies,  in  the  halls  of  elec- 
tion and  legislation,  men  of  every  rank  and  condition 
meet,  and  unite  or  divide  on  other  principles,  and  are 
actuated  by  other  motives,  than  those  growing  out 
of  such  distinctions.     The  fears  and  jealousies,  which 
in  other  countries  separate  classes  of  men  and  make 
them  hostile  to  each  other,  have  here  no  influence,  or 
a  very  limited  one.    Each  individual,  of  whatever  con- 
dition, has  the  consciousness  of  living  under  known 
laws,  which  secure  equal  rights,  and  guarantee  to  each 
whatever  portion  of  the  goods  of  life,  be  it  great  or 
small,  chance,  or  talent,  or  industry  may  have  be- 
stowed.   All  perceive  that  the  honors  and  rewards  of 
society  are  open  equally  to  the  fair  competition  of 
all ;  that  the  distinctions  of  wealth,  or  of  power,  are 
not  fixed  in  families;  that  whatever  of  this  nature 
exists  to-day,  may  be  changed  to-morrow,  or,  in  a 
coming  generation,  be  absolutely    reversed.     Com- 
mon principles,  interests,  hopes,  and  affections,  are 
the  result  of  universal  education.     Such  are  the  con- 
sequences of  the  equality  of  rights,  and  of  the  provis- 
ions for  the  general  diffusion  of  knowledge  and  the 
distribution   of  intestate  estates,  established  by   the 
laws  framed  by  the  earliest  emigrants  to  New  England. 
If  from  our  cities  we   turn  to  survey   the  wide 
expanse  of  the  interior,  how  do  the  effects  of  the  in- 
stitutions and  example  of  our  early  ancestors  appear, 
in  all  the  local  comfort  and   accommodation   which 
mark  the  general   condition    of    the   whole   couu- 
7 


50 

try ;  —  unobtrusive  indeed,  but  substantial ;  in  noth- 
ing splendid,  but  in  every  thing  sufficient  and  satis- 
factory. Indications  of  active  talent  and  practical 
energy  exist  every  where.  With  a  soil  compara- 
tively little  luxuriant,  and  in  great  proportion  either 
rock,  or  hill,  or  sand,  the  skill  and  industry  of 
man  are  seen  triumphing  over  the  obstacles  of  na- 
ture ;  making  the  rock  the  guardian  of  the  field ; 
moulding  the  granite,  as  though  it  were  clay ;  leading 
cultivation  to  the  hill-top,  and  spreading  over  the 
arid  plain,  hitherto  unknown  and  unanticipated  har- 
vests. The  lofty  mansion  of  the  prosperous  adjoins 
the  lowly  dwelling  of  the  husbandman  ;  their  respec- 
tive inmates  are  in  the  daily  interchange  of  civih- 
ty,  sympathy,  and  respect.  Enterprise  and  skill, 
which  once  held  chief  affinity  with  the  ocean  or 
the  sea-board,  now  begin  to  delight  the  interior, 
haunting  our  rivers,  where  the  music  of  the  wa- 
terfall, with  powers  more  attractive  than  those  of 
the  fabled  harp  of  Orpheus,  collects  around  it  intel- 
lectual man  and  material  nature.  Towns  and  cities, 
civiHzed  and  happy  communities,  rise,  like  exhala- 
tions, on  rocks  and  in  forests,  till  the  deep  and  far- 
resounding  voice  of  the  neighbouring  torrent  is  itself 
lost  and  unheard,  amid  the  predominating  noise  of 
successful  and  rejoicing  labor. 

What  lessons  has  New  England,  in  every  period  of 
her  history,  given  to  the  world  !  What  lessons  do  her 
condition  and  example  still  give !  How  unprecedent- 
ed ;  yet  how  practical !  How  simple ;  yet  how  pow- 
erful !  She  has  proved,  that  all  the  variety  of  Chris- 
tian sects  may  live  together  in  harmony,  under  a 
government,  which  allows  equal  privileges  to  all,  — 


51 

exclusive  pre-eminence  to  none.  She  has  proved,  that 
ignorance  among  the  multitude   is  not   necessary  to 
order,  but  that  the  surest  basis  of  perfect  order  is  the 
information  of  the  people.      She  has  proved  the  old 
maxim,   that  "  no  government,  except  a   despotism 
with  a  standing  army,  can  subsist  where  the    peo- 
ple have  arms,"  is  false.     Ever  since  the  first  set- 
tlement of  the  country,  arms  have  been  required  to 
be  in  the  hands  of  the  whole  multitude  of  New  Eng- 
land ;   yet  the  use  of  them  in  a  private  quarrel,  if  it 
have  ever  happened,  is  so  rare,  that  a  late  writer,  of 
great  intelligence,  who  had   passed  his  whole  life  in 
New  England,  and  possessed  extensive  means  of  in- 
formation, declares,  "  I  know  not  a  single  instance  of 
it."  *     She  has  proved,  that  a  people,  of  a  character 
essentially   military,   may   subsist   without  duelUng. 
New  England  has,  at  all  times,  been  distinguished, 
both  on  the  land  and  on  the  ocean,  for  a  daring,  fear- 
less, and  enterprising  spirit;  yet  the  same  writer  f  as- 
serts, that  during  the  whole  period  of  her  existence, 
her  soil  has  been  disgraced  but  hy  five  duels,  and 
that  only  two  of  these  were  fought  by  her  native  in- 
habitants !      Perhaps    this  assertion  is  not  minute- 
ly correct.     There  can  however  be  no  question,  that 
it  is  sufficiently  near  the  truth  to  justify  the  position 
for  which  it  is  here  adduced,  and   which  the  history 
of  New  England,  as  well  as  the  experience  of  her  in- 
habitants, abundantly  confirms  ;  that,  in  the  present 
and  in  every  past  age,  the  spirit  of  our  institutions 

*  See  "  Travels  in  New  England  and  New  York,  by  Timothy  Dwight, 
s.  T.  D.,  LI..  D.,  late  President  of  Yale  College."    Vol.  iv.  p.  334. 
t  Tbid.  p.  336. 


52 

has,  to  every  important  practical  purpose,  annihilated 
the  spirit  of  duelling. 

Such  are  the  true  glories  of  the  institutions  of  our 
fathers  !  Such  the  natural  fruits  of  that  patience  in 
toil,  that  frugality  of  disposition,  that  temperance  of 
habit,  that  general  diffusion  of  knowledge,  and  that 
sense  of  religious  responsibility,  inculcated  by  the 
precepts,  and  exhibited  in  the  example  of  every  gen- 
eration of  our  ancestors ! 

And  now,  standing  at  this  hour  on  the  dividing  line 
which  separates  the  ages  that  are  past,  from  those 
which  are  to  come,  how  solemn  is  the  thought,  that 
not  one  of  this  vast  assembly  —  not  one  of  that  great 
multitude  who  now  throng  our  streets,  rejoice  in  our 
fields,  and  make  our  hills  echo  with  their  gratulations, 
shall  live  to  witness  the  next  return  of  the  era  we 
this  day  celebrate  !  The  dark  veil  of  futurity  conceals 
from  human  sight  the  fate  of  cities  and  nations,  as 
well  as  of  individuals.  Man  passes  away  ;  genera- 
tions are  but  shadows;  —  there  is  nothing  stable  but 
truth ;  principles  only  are  immortal. 

What  then,  in  conclusion  of  this  great  topic,  are  the 
elements  of  the  liberty,  prosperity,  and  safety,  which 
the  inhabitants  of  New  England  at  this  day  enjoy?  In 
what  language,  and  concerning  what  comprehensive 
truths,  does  the  wisdom  of  former  times  address  the 
inexperience  of  the  future  1 

Those  elements  are  simple,  obvious,  and  familiar. 
Every  civil  and  rehgious  blessing  of  New  England, 
all  that  here  gives  happiness  to  human  Hfe,  or  se- 
curity to  human  virtue,  is  alone  to  be  perpetuated 
in  the  forms  and  under  the  auspices  of  a  free  com- 
monwealth. 


63 

The  commonwealth  itself  has  no  other  strength  or 
hope,  than  the  intelligence  and  virtue  of  the  individ- 
uals that  compose  it. 

For  the  intelligence  and  virtue  of  individuals, 
there  is  no  other  human  assurance  than  laws,  provid- 
ing for  the  education  of  the   whole  people. 

These  laws  themselves  have  no  strength,  or  efficient 
sanction,  except  in  the  moral  and  accountable  nature 
of  man,  disclosed  in  the  records  of  the  Christian's  faith ; 
the  right  to  read,  to  construe,  and  to  judge  concerning 
which,  belongs  to  no  class  or  cast  of  men,  but  ex- 
clusively to  the  individual,  who  must  stand  or  fall 
by  his  own  acts  and  his  own  faith,  and  not  by  those 
of  another. 

The  great  comprehensive  truths,  written  in  letters 
of  living  hght  on  every  page  of  our  history,  —  the 
language  addressed  by  every  past  age  of  New  Eng- 
land to  all  future  ages  is  this  ;  —  Human  happiness  has 
no  perfect  security  but  freedom ;  — freedom  none  but 
virtue;  —  virtue  none  but  knowledge  ;  and  neither  free- 
dom, nor  virtue,  nor  knowledge  has  any  vigor,  or  im- 
mortal hope,  except  in  the  principles  of  the  Christian 
faith,  and  in  the  sanctions  of  the  Christian  religion. 


Men  of  Massachusetts  !  Citizens  of  Boston  !  de- 
scendants of  the  early  emigrants !  consider  your 
blessings ;  consider  your  duties.  You  have  an  in- 
heritance acquired  by  the  labors  and  suflferings  of 
six  successive  generations  of  ancestors.  They  found- 
ed the  fabric  of  your  prosperity,  in  a  severe  and 
masculine  morality ;  having  intelligence  for  its  ce- 
ment, and  religion  for  its  ground-work.     Continue  to 


54 

build  on  the  same  foundation,  and  by  the  same 
principles ;  let  the  extending  temple  of  your  coun- 
try's freedom  rise,  in  the  spirit  of  ancient  times,  in 
proportions  of  intellectual  and  moral  architecture,  — 
just,  simple,  and  sublime.  As  from  the  first  to  this 
day,  let  New  England  continue  to  be  an  example  to 
the  world,  of  the  blessings  of  a  free  government, 
and  of  the  means  and  capacity  of  man  to  maintain 
it.  And,  in  all  times  to  come,  as  in  all  times  past, 
may  Boston  be  among  the  foremost  and  the  boldest 
to  exemplify  and  uphold  whatever  constitutes  the 
prosperity,  the  happiness,  and  the  glory  of  New  Eng- 
land. 


NOTES. 


Note  A.,  page  9. 
Bostonais.  The  name  is  thus  applied,  at  this  day,  by  the  Cana- 
dian French.  During  our  revolutionary  war,  Americans  from  the 
United  States  were  thus  designated  in  France.  Nor  was  the  cus- 
tom wholly  discontinued  even  as  late  as  the  year  1795.  "  We 
may  remark,"  says  a  writer  in  the  Collections  of  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society,  (Vol.  vi,  First  Series,  p.  69,)  "  that  Boston  was 
not  only  the  capital  of  Massachusetts,  but  the  town  most  cele- 
brated of  any  in  North  America.  Its  trade  was  extensive  ;  and 
the  name  often  stands  for  the  country  in  old  authors." 

Note  B.,  page  22. 
The  testimony  of  Chalmers,  in  his  "  Political  Annals  of  the  United 
Colonies,"  to  the  early  and  undeviating  spirit  of  independence 
which  actuated  the  first  emigrants  to  Massachusetts,  is  constant, 
unequivocal,  and  conclusive.  Those  Annals  were  written  during 
the  American  revolution,  and  published  in  the  year  1780,  in  the 
heat  of  that  controversy,  and  under  the  auspices  of  the  British 
government.  A  few  extracts  from  that  work,  tending  to  show  the 
pertinacious  spirit  of  independence  which  characterized  our  an- 
cestors, and  corroborative  of  the  position  maintained  in  the  text, 
cannot  fail  to  be  interesting. 

"  The  Charter  of  Charles  the  First,  obtained  in  March,  1628-9, 
was  the  only  one  which  Massachusetts  possessed  prior  to  the  revo- 
lution of  1688,  and  contained  its  most  ancient  privileges.  On  this 
teas  most  dexterously  engrafted,  not  only  the  original  government 
of  that  colony,  but  even  independence  itself' — Book  I.  c.  vi.  p.  136. 

"  The  nature  of  their  government  was  now  (1634)  changed  by 
a  variety  of  regulations,  the  legality  of  which  cannot  easily  be 
supported    by  any  other  than  those  principles  of  independence, 


56 

which  sprang  up  amotig  them,  and  have  at  all  times  governed  their 
actions." — Book  I.  p.  158. 

Concerning  the  confederation  entered  into  by  the  United  Colo- 
nies of  New  England  in  1643,  Chalmers  thus  expresses  himself. 

"  The  most  inattentive  must  perceive  the  exact  resemblance 
that  confederation  bears  to  a  similar  junction  of  the  colonies,  more 
recent  [that  of  1775],  extensive,  and  powerful.  Both  originated 
from  Massachusetts,  always  fruitful  in  projects  of  independence. 
Wise  men,  at  the  era  of  both,  remarked,  that  those  memorable  asso- 
ciations established  a  complete  system  of  absolute  sovereignty, 
because  the  principles  upon  which  it  was  erected  necessarily  led 

TO  WHAT  IT  WAS  NOT  THE  POLICX"  OF  THE  PRINCIPAL  AGENTS 
AT    EITHER  PERIOD  TO  AVOW  ! 

"  The  principles,  upon  which  this  famous  association  [that  of 
1643]  was  formed,  were  altogether  those  of  independency,  and  it 
cannot  easily  be  supported  on  any  other.  The  consent  of  the 
governing  powers  in  England  was  never  applied  for  and  was  never 
given." — Book  I.  c.  viii.  pp.  177,  178. 

"  Principles  of  aggrandisement  seem  constantly  to  have  been 
had  in  view  by  Massachusetts,  as  the  only  rule  of  its  conduct."  — 
Book  I.  p.  180. 

"  Massachusetts,  in  conformity  to  its  accustomed  principles,  act- 
ed, during  the  civil  wars,  almost  altogether  as  an  independent 
state.  It  formed  leagues,  not  only  with  the  neighbouring  colonies, 
but  with  foreign  nations,  without  the  consent  or  knowledge  of  the 
government  of  England.  It  permitted  no  appeals  from  its  courts 
to  the  judicatories  of  the  sovereign  state,  without  which  a  depen- 
dence cannot  be  preserved  or  enforced ;  "and  it  refused  to  exercise 
its  jurisdiction  in  the  name  of  the  commonwealth  of  England.  It 
assumed  the  government  of  that  part  of  New  England,  which  is 
now  called  New  Hampshire,  and  even  extended  its  power  farther 
eastward  over  the  Province  of  Maine  ;  and,  by  force  of  arms  it 
compelled  those,  who  had  fled  from  its  persecutions  beyond  its 
boundaries  into  the  wilderness,  to  submit  to  its  authority.  It 
erected  a  mint  at  Boston,  impressing  the  year  1652  on  the  coin, 
as  the  era  of  independence.  Though,  as  we  are  assured,  the  coin- 
ing of  money  is  the  prerogative  of  the  sovereign,  and  not  the  privi- 
lege of  a  colony." 

"  The  practice  was  continued  till  the  dissolution  of  its  govern- 
ment ;   thus  evincing  to  all  what  had  been  foreseen  by  the  wise. 


57 

that  a  people  of  svch  principles,  religious  and  political^  settling  at 
so  frreat  a  distance  from  control,  iroitld  necessarily  form  an  inde- 
pendent state."  —  Book  I.  c.  viii.  p.  181. 

"The  committee  of  slate  of  the  long  parliament,  having  resolved 
to  oblige  Massachusetts  to  acknowU'Jge  their  authority,  hy  taking 
a  new  patent  from  theoi  and  by  keeping  its  courts  in  their  name, 
that  colony,  according  to  its  wonted  policy,  by  petition  and  remon- 
strance, declaring  the  love  they  bore  the  parliament,  the  suflferings 
they  had  endured  in  their  cause,  and  their  readiness  to  stand  or  fall 
with  them,  and  by  llattering  Cromwell,  prevailed  so  far  as  that  the 
requisitions  alx)vemeiitioned  were  never  complied  with,  and  the 
General  Court  consequently  gained  the  point  in  the  controversy." — 
Book  I.  c.  viii.  pp.  184,  \S't. 

"  But  Massachusetts  did  not  only  thus  artfully  foil  the  parlia- 
ment, but  it  out-fawned  and  out-witted  Cromwell.  They  declined 
his  invitation  to  assist  his  fleet  and  army,  destined  to  attack  the 
Dutch  at  Manhattan  in  1653,  and  acknowledging  the  continued 
series  of  his  favors  to  the  colonies,  told  him,  that,  "  having  been  ex- 
ercised with  serious  thoughts  of  its  duty  at  that  juncture,  which 
were,  that  it  was  most  agreeable  to  the  gospel  of  peace  and  safest 
for  the  plantations  to  forbear  the  use  of  the  sword,  if  it  had 
been  misled,  it  humbly  craved  his  pardon."  —  Book  I.  c.  viii. 
p.  185. 

"  The  address  of  Massachusetts  abovementioned,  it  should  seem, 
gave  perfect  satisfaction  to  Cromwell.  Its  winning  courtship  seems 
to  have  captivated  his  rugged  heart,  and,  notwithstanding  a  varie- 
ty of  complaints  were  made  to  him  against  that  colony,  so  strong 
wore  his  attachments,  that  all  attempts,  either  to  obtain  redress,  or 
to  prejudice  it  in  his  esteem,  were  to  no  purpose.  Thus  did  Mas- 
sachusetts, by  the  prudence  or  vigor  of  its  councils,  triumph  over 
its  opponents  abroad." — Book  I.  c.  viii.  p.  188. 

"  After  the  death  of  Cromwell,  Massachusetts  acted  with  a  cau- 
tious neutrality.  She  refused  to  acknowledge  the  authority  of 
Richard  any  more  than  that  of  the  Parliatnent  or  Protector,  be- 
cause ALL  SUBMISSION  WOULD  HAVE  BEEN  INCONSISTENT  WITH  UER 
INDEPENDENCE." 

"  She  heard  the  tidings  of  the  restoration  with  that  scrupulous 
incredulity,  with  which  men  listen  to  news  which  they  wish  not  to 
be  true."  —Book  I.  c.  x.  p.  249. 

8 


58 

"Prince  Charles  the  Second  had  received  so  many  proofs  of  the  at- 
tachment of  the  colonies,  during  the  season  of  trial,  Nero  England 
only  excepted,  that  he  judged  rightly,  when  he  presumed  they  would 
listen  to  the  news  of  his  restoration  with  pleasure,  and  submit  to 
his  just  authority  with  alacrity.  Nor  was  he  in  the  least  deceived. 
They  proclaimed  his  accession  with  a  joy  in  proportion  to  their 
recollection  of  their  late  sufferings,  and  to  their  hope  of  future 
blessings.  Of  the  recent  conduct  of  Massachusetts,  he  was  well  in- 
structed ;  he  foresaw  what  really  happened,  that  it  would  receive  the 
tidings  of  his  good  fortune  with  extreme  coldness ;  he  was  informed 
of  the  proceedings  of  a  society  which  assembled  at  Cooper's  Hall,  in 
order  to  promote  its  interests,  and  with  them,  the  good  old  cause  of 
enmity  to  regal  power.  And  in  May,  1661,  he  appointed  the  great 
officers  of  state  a  committee,  *  touching  the  affairs  of  New  Eng- 
land,' That  Prince  and  that  colony  mutually  hated  and  contemned 
and  feared  each  other,  during  his  reign,  because  the  one  suspected 
its  principles  of  attachment,  and  the  other  dreaded  an  invasion  of 
its  privileges." —  Book  I.  p.  243. 

"  The  same  vessel  which  brought  king  Charles's  proclamation  to 
Boston,  in  1660,  brought  also  Whalley  and  Goffe,  two  of  the  regi- 
cides. Far  from  concealing  themselves,  they  were  received  very 
courteously  by  Governor  Endicott,  and  with  universal  regard  by  the 
people  of  New  England.  Of  this  conduct,  Charles  the  Second,  was 
perfectly  informed,  and  with  it  he  afterwards  reproached  Massa- 
chusetts."—  Book  I.  c.  X.  pp.  249,  250. 

"  The  General  Court  soon  turned  its  attention  to  a  subject  of 
higher  concernment ;  the  present  condition  of  aftairs.  In  order 
rightly  to  understand  that  duty  which  the  people  owed  to  them- 
selves, and  that  obedience  which  was  due  to  the  authority  of  Eng- 
land, a  committee  at  length  reported  a  declaration  of  rights  and  du- 
ties, which  at  once  shows  the  extent  of  their  claims,  and  their  dex- 
terity at  involving  what  they  wished  to  conceal.  The  General 
Court  resolved,  —  'That  the  patent  (under  God)  was  the  first  and 
main  foundation  of  the  civil  polity  of  that  colony;  that  the  Govern- 
or and  Company  are,  by  the  patent,  a  body  politic,  which  is  vested 
with  power  to  make  freemen  ;  that  they  have  authority  to  chose  a 
governor,  deputy-governor,  assistants,  and  select  representatives  ; 
that  this  government  hath  ability  to  set  up  all  kinds  of  offices  ;  that 
the  governor,  deputy-governor,  assistants,  and  select  deputies, 
have  full  jurisdiction,  both  legislative  and  executive,  for  the  govern- 


59 

ment  of  the  people  here,  without  appeals,  ♦  excepting  law  or  laws 
repugnant  to  the  laws  of  England  ' ;  that  this  company  is  privi- 
leged to  defend  itself  against  all  who  shall  attempt  its  annoyance ; 
that  any  ini|M)sition,  prejudicial  to  the  country,  contrary  to  any  of 
its  just  ordinances   (not  repugnant  to  the  laws  of  England),  is  an 
infringement  of  its  rights.'  —  Having  thus  with  a  genuine   air   of 
sovereignty,  by  its  own  act,  established  its  own  privileges,  it  decid- 
ed  '  concerning  its  duties  and  allegiance ' ;  and    these  were  de- 
clared to  consist  in  upholding  that  colony  as  of  right  belonging  to 
his  Majesty,  and  not  subject  to  any  foreign  potentate  ;  in  preserving 
his  person  and  dominions  ;  in  settling  the  peace  and  prosperity  of 
the  king  and  nation,  by  punishing  crimes,  and  by  propagating  the 
gospel.     It  was  at  the  same  time  determined,  that  the  royal  warrant 
for  apprehending  Whalley  and  Goffe  ought  to  be  faithfully  execut- 
ed ;  that  if  any  legally  obnoxious,  and  fleeing  from  the  civil  justice 
of  the  state  of  England,  shall  come  over  to  these  parts,  they  may 
not  expect  shelter.'      What  a  picture   do   these  resolutions  display 
of  the  embarrassments  of  the  General  Court,  between  its  principles 
of  independence  on  the  one  hand,  and  its  apprehension  of  giving 
offence  to  the  state  of  England,  on  the  other."  —  Book  I.  p.  252. 

"  During  the  whole  reign  of  Charles  the  Second,  Massachu.setts 
continued  to  act  as  she  always  had  done,  as  an  independent  st  '/c." 
"  Disregarding  equally  her  charter  and  the  laws  of  England,  MaS' 
sachusetts  established  for  herself]  an  independent  government,  simi- 
lar to  those  of  the  Grecian  republics."  —  Book  I.  c.  xvi.  p.  400 ;  also 
c.  xxii.  p.  682. 

It  is  not  easy  to  perceive  on  what  ground  Chalmers  supports  the 
charge  against  our  ancestors,  of  "  concealment"  of  their  real  in- 
tentions, by  the  General  Court  in  their  declaration  of  rights,  above 
quoted,  from  page  2.32  of  his  Annals.  On  the  contrary,  it  seems 
to  have  been  conceived  in  a  spirit  of  boldness,  which,  consid- 
ering the  weakness  of  the  colony,  might  be  much  better  denom- 
inated imprudently  explicit  than  evasive.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive 
what  the  General  Court  could  have  added  to  that  declaration  of  their 
right  to  independent  self-government,  unless  iliey  had  been  prepar- 
ed to  draw  the  sword  against  the  king  and  throw  away  the  scabbard. 

Note  C,  page  22. 
This  is  apparent  from  the  fact,  that  they  did  form  and  maintain 
such  a  commonwealth,  and  from  the  further  fact  that  in  no  other 


60 

way  could  they,  in  that  age,  have  had  any  hope  successfully  to 
maintain  and  transmit  to  their  posterity  religious  liberty,  according 
to  their  conception  of  that  blessing.  Those  who  reason  practically 
concerning  the  motives  of  mankind,  must  take  their  data  from  their 
master-passions,  and  the  necessities  of  their  situation.  Acts  best 
develope  intentions.  Official  language  takes  it  modification  from 
circumstances,  and  is  often  necessarily  a  very  equivocal  indica- 
tion of  motives. 

To  escape  from  the  dominion  of  the  English  hierarchy,  was  our 
ancestors'  leading  design  and  firm  purpose.  They  took  refuge  in 
the  forms  and  principles  of  a  commonwealth  ;  trusting  to  their  own 
intellectual  skill  and  physical  power  for  its  support.  They  were 
well  apprized  of  the  fixed  determination  of  the  English  hierarchy, 
from  the  earliest  times  of  their  emigration,  to  subject  them  to  its 
supremacy,  if  possible ;  and  this  design  is  distinctly  avowed  by 
Chalmers. 


"The  enjoyment  of  liberty  of  conscience,  the  free  worship  of  the 
Supreme  Being  in  the  manner  most  agreeable  to  themselves,  were 
the  great  objects  of  the  colonists,  which  they  often  declared  was  the 
principal  end  of  their  emigration.  Nevertheless,  though  their  his- 
torians assert  the  contrary,  the  charter  did  not  grant  spontaneously 
to  them  a  freedom,  which  had  been  denied  to  the  solicitations  of  the 
Brownists ;  and  it  is  extremely  probable  that  so  essential  an  omis- 
sion arose,  not  from  accident^but  design." 

'*  In  conformity  to  his  intentions  of  establishing  the  Church  of 
England  in  the  plantations,  James  had  refused  to  grant  to  that  sect 
the  privilege  of  exercising  its  own  peculiar  modes,  though  solicited 
by  the  powerful  interest  of  the  Virginia  Company.  His  successor 
adopted  and  pursued  the  same  policy  under  the  direction  of  Laud, 
*  7oho,  we  are  assured,  kept  a  jealous  eye  over  Neio  England.'  And 
this  reasoning  is  confirmed  by  the  present  patent,  which  required, 
with  peculiar  caution,  '  that  the  oath  of  supremacy  shall  be  ad- 
ministered to  every  one,  toho  shcdl  pass  to  the  colony  and  inhabit 
there.'  "  — Book  I.  c.  vi.  p.  141. 

Note  D.,  page  23. 
The  consentaneousness  of  the  views  entertained  by  Chalmers, 
with  those  presented  in  the  text,  respecting  the  motives  of  our  an- 
cestors in    making  the  removal  of  the  charter  the  condition  of 
their  emigration,  is  remarkable. 


61 

"  Several  persons  of  considerable  conseqnence  in  the  nation, 
who  had  adopted  the  principles  of  the  Puritans,  and  who  winhcd  to 
enjoy  their  own  mode  of  worship,  formed  the  resolution  of  emigrat- 
ing to  Massachusetts.  But  they  felt  iliemselves  inferior,  neither  to 
the  governor  nor  assistants  of  the  company.  Tketf  suw  and  ili end- 
ed the  inconvenience  of  being  governrd  by  laws  made  for  them  irith- 
ottt  their  consent :  and  it  appeared  more  rational  to  them,  that  the 
colony  should  be  ruled  by  those  who  made  it  the  place  of  their  resi- 
dence, than  by  men  dwelling  at  the  distance  of  three  thousand  miles, 
over  whom  they  had  no  control.  At  the  same  time  therefore,  that 
they  proposed  to  transport  themselves,  their  families,  and  their  es- 
tates, to  that  country,  they  insisted  that  the  charter  should  be 
transmitted  with  them,  and  that  the  corporate  powers,  which  were 
conferred  by  it,  should   be  executed,  in  future,  in   New  England." 

"  A  transaction,  similar  to  this,  in  all  its  circumstances,  is  not 
to  be  easily  met  with  in  story." — Book  I.  c.  vi.  pp.  150,  151. 


It  is  very  plain  from  the  above  extract,  that  Chalmers  understood 
the  transfer  of  the  charter  to  this  country  in  the  light  in  which  it  is 
represented  in  the  text ;  —  that  the  object  was  self-government ; 
an  intention  "  not  to  be  governed  by  laws  made  for  them,  without 
their  consent";  —  a  determination  that  those  "should  rule  in  New 
England,  who  made  it  the  place  of  their  residence  " ;  and  "  not 
those  toho  dwelt  at  the  distance  of  three  thousand  miles,  over  whom 
they  had  no  control.'^ 

Two  causes  have  concurred  to  keep  the  motives  of  our  ancestors 
in  that  measure,  from  the  direct  developement  which  its  nature  de- 
serves. The  first  was,  that  their  motives  could  not  be  avowed 
consistently  with  that  nominal  dependence,  which  in  the  weakness 
of  the  early  emigrants  was  unavoidable.  The  other  was,  that  al- 
most all  the  impressions  left  concerning  our  early  history,  have 
been  derived  through  the  medium  of  the  clergy,  who  naturally  gave 
an  exclusive  attention  to  the  predominating  motive,  which  was,  un- 
questionably, religious  liberty,  and  paid  less  regard  to  what  the  co- 
lonial statesmen  of  that  day  as  unquestionably  considered  to  be  the 
essential  means  to  that  end.  The  men  who  said  "  they  would  not 
go  to  New  England  unless  the  patent  went  with  them,"  were  not 
clergymen,  but  high-minded  statesmen,  who  knew  what  was  in- 
cluded in  that  transfer.     Their  conduct  and  that  of  their  immedi- 


62 

ate  descendants,  speak  a  language  of  determined  civil  independ- 
ence, not,  at  this  day,  to  be  gainsaid. 

Winthrop  gives,  incidentally,  a  remarkable  evidence  of  his  own 
sensibility,  on  the  subject  of  the  right  of  self-government,  in  the 
very  earliest  period  after  their  emigration. 

"  Mr.  Winslow,  the  late  Governor  of  Plymouth,"  Winthrop  re- 
lates, "  being  this  year  (1G35)  in  England,  petitioned  the  council 
for  a  commission  to  withstand  the  intrusions  of  the  Dutch  and 
French.  Now  this,"  Winthrop  remarks,  "  was  undertaken  with  ill- 
advice ;  for  such  precedents  endanger  our  liberty,  that  we  should 

no  NOTHING  HEREAFTER  BUT  BY  COMMISSION  OUT  OF  ENGLAND." 

Winthrop,  Vol.  i.  p.  172. 

Note  E.,  page  23. 

That  the  early  emigrants  foresaw  that  the  transfer  of  the  charter 
would  effectually  vest  independence,  may  be  deduced,  not  only 
from  the  whole  tenor  of  their  conduct  after  their  emigration,  which 
was  an  effectual  exercise  of  independence,  but  from  the  fact  of  the 
secrecy,  tcith  tchich  this  intention  to  transfer  the  charter  teas  main- 
tained, until  it  was  actucdly  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

Our  ancestors  readily  anticipated  with  what  jealousy  this  trans- 
fer would  be  viewed  by  the  English  government ;  and  were  ac- 
cordingly solicitous  to  keep  it  from  being  known  until  they  and 
the  original  charter  were  beyond  their  power.  The  original 
records  of  the  General  Court,  in  which  the  topic  of  this  transfer 
of  the  charter  was  first  agitated,  speak  a  language  on  this  sub- 
ject, not  to  be  mistaken. 

The  terms  of  this  record  are  as  follows : 

"At  a  General  Court  holden  at  London,  for  the  Company  of  the 
Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  England,  in  Mr.  Deputy's  house,  on 
Tuesday,  the  28th  of  July,  1629.     Present, 

Mr.  MATHEW  CRADOCK,  Governor. 
Mr.  GOFF,  Deputy  Gov." 

Here  follow  the  names  of  the  "  assistants"  and  "generality," 
who  were  present. 

"  Mr.  Governor  read  certain  propositions  conceived  by  himself, 
viz.  that  for  the  advancement  of  the  plantation,  the  inducing  and 
encouraging  persons  of  worth  and  quality  to  transplant  themselves 
and  families  thither,  and  for  other  weighty  reasons  therein  contain- 
ed, to  transfer  the  government  of  the  plantation  to  those  that  shall 


63 

inhabit  there,  and  not  to  continun  tho  same  in  subordination  to  the 
company  hero,  as  now  it  is.  This  business  occasioned  some  de- 
bate ;  but  bi/  reason  of  the  mtini/  ifreat  anil  considerable  conseqiien' 
ces  thereupon  flependinff,  it  was  n«)t  now  resolved  upon,  but  thoso 
present  are  privntelif  and  seriously  to  consider  hereof,  and  to  set 
down  their  particuliir  reasons  in  writing,  pro  and  contra,  and  to 
produce  the  same  at  the  next  General  Court,  where  they  being  re- 
duced to  heads  and  maturely  considered  of,  the  company  may  then 
proceed  to  a  final  resolution  therein,  and  in  the  mean  time  thev 

ARE  DESIRED  TO  CARRY  THIS   RUSINES3  SECRETLY,  THAT  THE    SAME 

BE  NOT  DIVULGED."  —  See  Original  records  of  .Massachusetts,  p.  19. 

What  our  ancestors  thought  they  had  gained,  or  what  practical 
consequences  they  intended  to  deduce  from  this  transfer  of  the  pa- 
tent, and  from  their  possession  of  it  in  this  country,  is  apparent 
from  the  reasons,  given  by  Winthrop,  for  not  obeying  the  court 
mandate,  to  send  the  patent  to  England. 

Winthrop's  account  is  as  follows: 

"The  General  Court  was  assembled  [1638],  in  which  it  was 
agreed,  that  whereas  a  very  strict  order  was  sent  from  the  Lords 
Commissioners  for  Plantations,  for  sending  home  our  patent, 
upon  pretence  that  judgment  had  passed  against  it  upon  a  quo 
warranto,  a  letter  should  be  written  by  the  Governor  in  the  name 
of  the  Court,  to  excuse  our  not  sending  it ;  for  it  was  resolved  to  be 
best,  not  to  send  it,  because  then  such  of  our  friends  and  others  in 
England  would  conceive  it  to  be  surrendered,  and  that  thereupon, 
toe  should  be  bound  to  receive  such  a  Governor  and  such  orders,  as 
should  be  sent  to  us,  and  many  bad  minds,  yea,  and  some  weak  ones, 
among  ourselves,  would  think  it  lawful,  if  not  necessary,  to 
ACCEPT  a  general  GOVERNOR."  —  Winthrop,  Vol.  1.  p.  269. 

Note  F.,  page  25. 
The  object  of  this  policy  was  perceived  by  Chalmers.  Thus, 
he  reprobates  the  law,  that  "  none  should  be  admitted  to  the  free- 
dom of  the  company  but  such  as  were  church  members,  and  that 
none  but  freemen  should  vote  at  elections  or  act  as  magistrates  and 
jurymen,"  because  it  excluded  from  all  participation  in  the  gov- 
ernment, those  who  could  not  comply  with  the  necessary  requisites. 
He  understood  well,  that  it  was  a  means  of  defence  against  the 
English  hierarchy,  and  intended  to  exclude  from  influence  all  who 
were  of  the  English  church  ;  and  complains  of  it  as  being  '•  made 


64 

in  the  true  spirit  of  retaliation,"  (Book  I.  p.  153.)  and  adds,  that 
"this  severe  law,  notwithstanding  the  vigorous  exertions  of  Charles 
the  Second,  continued  in  force  till  the  qifo  loarranto  laid  in  ruins 
the  structure  of  the  government  that  had  established  it." 

To  prove  the  necessity  of  this  exclusive  policy  of  our  ancestors, 
and  that  it  was  strictly  a  measure  of  "  self-defence,"  it  is  proper 
to  remark,  that  as  early  as  April,  1635,  a  commission  was  issued 
for  the  government  of  the  Plantations,  granting  absolute  power  to 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  to  others,  "  to  make  laws  and 

CONSTITUTIONS,  CONCERNING  EITHER  THEIR  STATE  PUBLIC  OR  THE 
UTILITY  OP  INDIVIDUALS,  AND  FOR  THE  RELIEF  OF  THE  CLERGY  TO 
CONSIGN  CONVENIENT  MAINTENANCE  UNTO  THEM  BY  TITHES  AND 
OBLATIONS  AND  OTHER  PROFITS  ACCORDING  TO  THEIR  DISCRETION," 
AND  THEY  WERE  EMPOWERED  TO  INFLICT  PUNISHMENTS,  EITHER 
BY  IMPRISONMENT  OR  BY  LOSS  OF  LIFE   AND  MEMBERS. 

A  broader  charter  of  hierarchical  despotism  was  never  conceived. 
The  only  means  of  protection  against  it,  to  which  our  ancestors 
could  resort,  was  that  which  they  adopted.  By  the  principle  of 
making  church-membership  a  qualification  for  the  enjoyment  of 
the  rights  of  a  freeman,  they  excluded  from  all  political  influence 
the  friends  of  the  hierarchy.  To  the  same  motive  may  be  referred 
that  other  principle,  that  "  no  churches  should  be  gathered  but 
such  as  were  approved  by  the  magistrate."  Notwithstanding  that 
the  direct  tendency  of  these  principles  was  to  destroy  the  influence 
of  the  crown  and  the  hierarchy  in  the  colony,  the  obviousness  of  the 
motive  is  unnoticed  by  Chalmers,  for  the  sake  of  repeating  the 
gross  charge  of  bigotry  ;  and  this  too  at  the  very  time  when  he  is 
urging  their  design  of  independence  against  our  ancestors  as  their 
great  crime.  Our  ancestors  could  not  avow  their  ruling  motive  ; 
and  they  seem  at  all  times  to  be  actuated  by  the  noble  principle 
of  being  content  to  submit  in  their  own  characters  to  the  obloquy 
of  bigotry,  as  a  less  evil  than  that  their  children  should  become 
subject  to  the  hierarchy  of  the  Stuarts. 

It  is  difficult  to  perceive  how  the  principles  of  this  commission 
could  have  been  otherwise  resisted  by  our  ancestors,  than  by  put- 
ting at  once  out  of  influence  all  those  disposed  to  yield  submission 
to  it.  Nor  was  it  possible  for  them  to  apply  their  disqualification 
directly  to  the  adherents  of  the  Englisli  hierarchy.  They  were 
compelled,  if  it  were  adopted  at  all,  to  make  it  general,  and  to  ac- 
quiesce in  the  charge  of  bigotry  in  order  to  give  efficacy  to  their 
policy. 


66 

Note  G.,  page  28. 
Lest  the  consequences  of  an  opposite  policy,  had  it  been  adopted 
by  our  ancebtors,  may  seem  to  be  exaggerated,  as  here  represented, 
it  is  proper  to  state,  that  upon  the  strength  and  united  spirit  of 
New  England  mainly  depended  (under  Heaven)  the  success  of 
our  revolutionary  struggle.  Had  New  England  been  divided,  or 
even  less  unanimous,  indep>endence  would  have  scarcely  been 
attempted,  or,  if  attempted,  acquired.  It  will  give  additional 
strength  to  this  argument  to  observe,  that  the  number  of  troops, 
regular  and  militia,  furnished  by  all  the  states  during  the  war  of 
the  revolution,  was      -----      288,134 


Of  these,  New  England  furnished  more  than  half,  viz.        147,674 
And  Massachusetts  alone  furnished  nearly  one  third,  viz.     83,162 


See  the  "  Collections  of  the  New  Hampshire  Historical  Society," 
Vol.  I.  p.  236. 

Note  H.,  page  44. 

Amounts  received  from  the  liberality  of  the  citizens  of  Boston 

towards  objects  of  a  public  nature,  of  a  moral,  religious,  or  literary 
character,  chiefly  within  the  last  thirty  years,  as  stated  in  the 
text. 

I.  By  the  following  Societies ; 

Boston  Athenseum                -            -            -            -  75,000 

Humane  Society            -            ...            -  20,791 

Boston  Dispensary  for  the  Medical  Relief  of  the  Poor  19,000 

Massachusetts  General  Hospital             -            -            -  354,400 

Massachusetts  Charitable  Society                  -            -  16,714 

Boston  Penitent  Female  Refuge  Society            -            -  15,172 

Boston  Fragment  Society     -            -            -            -  15,205 

Boston  Mechanics'  Institution                -             -             -  6,119 

Boston  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary          -            -            -  5,500 

Boston  Female  Asylum              -            -            -            -  79,582 

Boston  Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Useful  Knowledge  1,035 
Boston  Society  for  the  Religious  and  Moral  Instruction 

of  the  Poor 23,500 

Charitable  Mechanic  Association           -            -            -  15,000 

Boston  Asylum  for  Indigent  Boys    -            -            -  20,000 

1667,018 


66 

Amount  brought  up     $667,018 
Fatherless  and  Widows'  Society             -  6,320 
Howard  Benevolent  Society               -             -  16,900 
Charitable  Fund,  placed  under  the  control 
of  the  Overseers  of  the  Poor,  and  derived 
from  private  benevolence        -             -  95,000 
Massachusetts  Congregational  Charitable  So- 
ciety               ....  51,000 
Seamen's  Friend  Society      .            -            -  3,000 
American  Education  Society     -            -  32,228 
Bible  Society        -            -            -            -  40,000 
Harvard   College   and   the   several   Institu- 
tions embraced  within,  or  connected  with, 
that  seminary           _             -             _  222,696 
Theological  Institution  at  Andover            -  21,824 

488,968 

[From  the  above  amounts  have  been  as  far  as  possible  excluded  all  -_^___ 
sums  not  derived  from  the  citizens  of  Boston.  Those  amounts  1,155,986 
also  must  not  be  understood  as  expressing  fAej^reseni  amount  o/" 
funds  of  these  Societies,  although  in  many  instances  it  is  the 
case  ;  the  object  of  this  recapitulation  being  not  to  represent 
the  actual  state  of  each  of  those  Societies  at  this  time,  but 
the  amount  they  have,  within  the  time  specified,  received  from 
the  liberal  and  public  spirit  of  the  citizens  of  Boston.] 

II.  Various  contributions  for  the  relief  of  suf- 
ferers by  fire  in  Boston  -  -  34,528 
in  Newburyport  -  -  16,500 
in  St.  Johns  -  -  8,666 
in  Augusta  -  -  2,264 
in  Wiscasset     -            -  5,504 


67,462 

[The  above,  although  excluding  many  known  contributions,  — _^____ 
are  all  of  which  the  amounts  could  be  ascertained  with  ac-  1,223,448 
curacy.] 

III.  Moneys  raised,  within  the  time  specified  in  the 
text,  by  various  contributions,  or  by  donations  of 
individuals,  either  from  motives  of  charity,  or  for 
the  patronizing  of  distinguished  merit,  or  for  the  re- 
lief of  men  eminent  for  their  public  services,  — 


67 

Amount  brought  up  §1,203,448 

the  evidences  of  which  have  been  examined  for  this 
purpose,  (testamentary  bequests  not  being  included,) 

8,000 

11,000 

24,500 

10,000 

1,400 

6,000 

2,000 

5,000 

5,000 

In  sums  between  500  and  1500      -  -      35,500 


109,400 


[Particular  names  and  objects  have  been  omitted  from  motives  of 
delicacy  or  propriety.] 

IV.  Amount  collected  for  objects  of  general  charity,  or 
for  the  promotion  of  literary,  moral,  or  religious  pur- 
poses by,  or  under  the  influence  of,  various  religious 
societies  in  the  metropolis  (not  including  the  particu- 
lar annual  objects  of  expenditure  of  each  society), 
communicated  by  the  several  officers  of  those  socie- 
ties, or  by  individuals  having  access  to  their  records 
or  to  the  papers  containing  evidence  of  such  col- 
lections .....  469,425 


[The  names  of  the  particular  societies  and  objects  it  is  not  deemed 
proper  to  publish, 

1.  Because  it  was  the  express  wish  of  several  officers  of  the 
societies,  that  it  should  not  be  done. 

2.  Because  several  of  the  societies  could  not  be  applied  to,  and 
their  omission  here  might  imply  that  they  have  not  made  sim- 
ilar collections,  which  would  be  unjust. 

3.  Because,  since  the  account  of  the  amounts  thus  collected  de- 
pends upon  the  retaining  or  not  retaining  (oAen  accidental)  of 
the  evidence  of  such  collections,  the  comparative  returns  are 
very  different  from  what  there  is  reason  to  believe  were  the 
comparative  amounts  collected,  as  they  would  have  appeared, 
had  the  evidence  in  all  cases  been  equally  well  retained. 

The  object,  on  this  occasion,  has  not  been  completeness,  which 
was  known  to  be  impracticable,  but  as  near  an  approximation 
to  it  as  was  possible.  How  far  short  the  statement  in  this  item 
is  from  the  real  amount  collected,  may  be  gathered  from  this 


$1,801,273 


68 

feet, — that  information  was  requested  ybr  the  amount  collected 
within  the  last  thirty  years ;  yet  more  than  half  the  sum 
stated  in  this  item  arose  from  collections  made  within  the  last 
ten  years. 
As  a  farther  illustration,  it  may  not  be  improper  to  state,  that, 
within  the  last  twelve  years,  five  citizens  of  Boston  have  de- 
ceased, whose  bequests  for  objects  exclusively  of  public  interest 
or  benevolence,  when  united,  amount  to  a  sum  exceeding 
three  hundred  thousand  dollars  ;  and  that  one  of  these,  dur- 
ing the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life,  is  known  to  have  given 
away,  toward  similar  objects,  a  sum  equal  to  ten  thousand 
dollars  annually.] 


27 


/5  2 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  AT  UOS  ANGELES 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


llRi;  DEC2  6  9« 


1^' >/lAtl\  L^AN  DESK 


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UBRARY 


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